Everything Happens for a Reason
by Stalker of Stories
Summary: HPOuranHolic xover SLASH Harry was raised by Yuuko and defeated Voldemort, and upon his return grants a wish to Fujioka Haruhi. Too bad he didn't know how bad an idea that was, and now he has to fix his mistake. Alternate history, very AU, believable OoC
1. Prologue

**Warnings: Slash (aka men kissing other men and liking it quite a lot), fangirling, lots of OoC (but in a believable and in-context manner for the most part, so it's not THAT bad), mentioned character death, spoilers for all 7 Harry Potter books, Ouran manga through chapter 65-ish, xxxHolic through at least 150 (if not more), and Tsubasa through probably 210 (since it's so closely tied to Holic), but it's also AU to all series, three-way crossover, maybe more, such as Tsubasa or something, but not on the same scale, minor Ron-bashing, minor Ginny-bashing, very minor Tamaki bashing, minor Megumi bashing (but that's it, honest)  
**

**Disclaimers: Harry Potter belongs to JKR and affiliates, xxxHOLiC and Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicles belong to CLAMP and affiliates, and Ouran High School Host Club belongs to Bisuko Hatori and affiliates. I am not an associate of any of these groups, simply a girl beset by rabid, man-eating plot bunnies (even if they _are_ adorable!).**

**Features: AlternateChildhood!Harry, Determined!Haruhi, Watanuki! (his ! has to be after his name) And others from all three series (perhaps more later on too)**

Prologue

**Since this is a prologue, a lot of this will be information dump to catch up to when the actual story happens. Bear with me! It's all really important...  
**

On September 19th (1), the family of three had died. One month and two weeks before they could have done anything good and useful in their miserable, _normal_ lives, they were all lying calmly in a graveyard, completely oblivious. Albus Dumbledore sighed and averted his gaze from the empty - and rather broken down - cottage before him, though he was also careful to look away from the small toddler, only 15 months old, who was playing contentedly with his second in command.

He had more important things to think about, like how to keep Harry Potter - the newly christened Boy-Who-Lived - safe. The plan for blood wards was the most secure possibility, but since the Dursleys were dead in a car accident, who could take up that mantle? The Evans family, or at least those who shared a strong enough relation to Lily, was not a large one. Mr and Mrs Evans had both been the only children of only children.

Even Hogwarts wouldn't be safe enough. Not only were there people going in and out at all times, since it was a public institution, but Albus could not trust just anyone with Harry. As much as he trusted Severus Snape, he wasn't even sure if he trusted the man to be in the same _country_ as young Harry, let alone the same _dwelling space_ so soon. The spy had been just that out of love for Lily, and since that woman was now dead, the only remainder of her a single child who she had born for Snape's "nemesis"... there were many possibilities, suffice to say that, at this point, it would be a bad idea to have Snape and Harry in the castle at the same time.

But who could take care of the boy and keep him properly safe and sequestered?

"At the wedding, Lily mentioned an aunt who could not come," Minerva spoke from where she was playing with Harry (it was some muggle game involving a soft orange ball and a low plastic hoop-and-net that the child continually attempted to throw the ball in), as if she could read Albus' mind. More likely he had been speaking aloud. "Do you remember? Her witch aunt in Japan. Yuuko Ichihara."

The aged Headmaster winced. "I wouldn't trust that woman to raise a child Minerva," he stated carefully. "The Witch of Dimensions would not be the best role model, no matter what price is paid for her services." Every witch or wizard worth their salt knew about Yuuko, though none could claim to know her real name. Not that that within itself was strange – usually the only ones who knew a wizard's true name were his closest family, friends, and eventually spouse – but Albus would feel more secure if he did. He could not trust her, an unknown entity for all her notoriety, to raise Harry the way he had to be raised.

Minerva only hmmed while making the squishy ball fly around Harry's head; he giggled and tried to catch it. The scar on his small head stood out all too clearly. A sign of fate - of "hitsuzen" as the Witch always said - that would surely endear him to the woman who Minerva had suggested. But Dumbledore didn't trust the Witch so far as he could throw her _without_ magic.

And yet that was the only viable plan they had come up with since Sirius Black's arrest.

After all, who could keep Harry safer than the Witch of Dimensions, who could do anything she liked short of resurrection? But the price... the Witch didn't take gold like most wizards would for services rendered. She required equal payment, including taking a person's magic, limbs, memories... anything important enough.

All magic ran on the principle of equal exchange in some way, but most magical people paid through their stamina, easily refreshed with food and sleep, and other easily replenished stores. Because of this, they had greater limitations. If _her_ sort of magicks were the "Power the Dark Lord Knows Not..." so many possibilities were opened if he brought in the Witch, and so much control was lost.

Albus sighed once more and made to beckon Minerva come with him. They had come to finish searching the grounds of the Potter Cottage in Godric's Hollow in the early hours of the morning and brought Harry to keep him safe for the moment... but if only they actually had someone they could trust him with!

Albus realized, horrified, what he had just thought as there was a light crunch of frosted-grass underfoot. He didn't have to turn, though he did so out of instinct, to know there was a tall woman, more than half a foot over the average woman's height, with flowing black hair and wearing an outrageous dress of acromantula silk, lace, and what appeared to be some actual black diamonds put together. The mention of the Witch had brought her to them, and Albus had just made a wish, if only to himself.

It usually wouldn't work that way, but Albus knew it counted. It was probably fate again.

"Bumblebee, Minerva," the woman intoned, calling Dumbledore by the name she had used all the other two occasions of their meeting. She only crunched the grass of her own will, Albus knew, not that she seemed to be paying much mind to it or the people she addressed. She had eyes only for the toddler now standing on slightly-wobbly legs next to Minerva. "Harry."

"He has to be raised up properly, Witch," Albus would not address someone quite like that, excepts the Witch's formal title _was_ Witch. "Not spoiled, oblivious to his fame. He can't have a big head." The wish was already made; why not try to better work it in his favor? Damn the cost! "He should grow up like any child ought to, and attend Hogwarts when it is his time."

"Did you think I wouldn't already know how to raise this child?" Yuuko scoffed at him, eyes still fixed on the boy, as if coaxing him away from Minerva. "It is hitsuzen that he should grow up in a specific way. Better me than those animals you would have placed him with; he would have grown up as _ab_normally as possible, unless you routinely place toddlers in cupboards or throw frying pans at the heads of children. Hitsuzen made this decision for his own good, not yours. His youth will be as hitsuzen demands.

"His room, board, and other expenses will be taken from his vault. For raising him, I will take the ring that is kept in the House of Gaunt in the town of Little Hangleton. Only you may retrieve it, Albus Dumbledore, and you may _not_ touch it nor attempt to use it, no matter how tempting. Hitsuzen demands as much, or the price exacted from you will be tenfold. And for returning him to Hogwarts for his schooling and other magical education, I will have access to Hogwarts when I need it so long as Albus Dumbledore or Minerva McGongall are on school grounds. It will be necessary, but the ban must me lifted. Do you understand?"

Though surprised, Dumbledore agreed immediately to the terms. He only had another forty, maybe fifty years in him that Yuuko might demand entry to Hogwarts; Minerva had already decided that she would leave when he did, provided it was in twenty years or more. Lifting the old ban that had been put in place by Phineas Nigellus would not be any great effort. Likewise, taking a ring from a deserted house, from an ended line, would be no chore and not really a crime either even if he _was_ caught.

Yuuko smiled in a serene way, and that seemed to be the signal Harry was looking for. The child staggered in the way that such young children do over to the imposing woman (to anyone shorter than the Headmaster that is) and raised his hands. "Up!" Harry demanded. The smile continued to grace to lips of the Witch as she complied and Harry seemed only too happy to sit on her hip and play with a stray ribbon from her dress.

"Remember, you have to give me the ring by next Hallowe'en," she stated, "and the wish will be completed as demanded."

"Well, I'm glad _that's_ settled," Minerva huffed much like a cat. "We will send someone to look in on the boy now and again of course. To make sure you treat him properly."

The smile, once petite, distant, and perhaps inviting, curled into something that Albus could only describe as far more feline than any expression Minerva had ever had. Like the cat that caught the canary. "I expect nothing less."

For some reason, Albus felt a shiver of impending doom move down his spine as the Witch of Dimensions retreated from the half-collapsed house.

* * *

Ichihara Harry had always known about magic. The wonders it could perform, and the associated costs, had been a fact of his life ever since he could remember. Once, he had found an injured bird at the park and taken it to Yuuko, asking her to heal it. She said that if the bird took the cost, other birds would shun it for being touched by humans, and if he took the cost, his arm would be bruised for a while.

That was the first "wish" he ever made to Yuuko, and even though it hurt to play for a couple weeks, he didn't regret it. He had been four years old.

At five, he began to wonder why children walked by, all wearing the same clothes, and couldn't come to the park until after four in the afternoon. Yuuko said they went to school, to learn the things that she had been teaching him since he was two-and-a-half, when he learned to read. She said they couldn't read yet, and that was why they had to go to school.

Harry wanted to go to school too, but Yuuko said no. It was fine for him to play at the park where she could watch him, or in the house with Marudashi and Morodashi – two little girls without souls who worked for Yuuko and had been Harry's playmates since he was a baby – but she had to watch over him, look out for him, keep him safe. There were people in the world who would want to hurt Harry, because of his parents, or Yuuko, or even something that happened before Yuuko took him. At school he wouldn't be safe, but he could go to a special school when he was eleven.

Harry could accept this, but he wanted to know about his parents and what had happened that would make people not like him. Yuuko told him whatever he wanted about his parents; that they were a witch and wizard, that Lily was her niece through extenuating circumstances (2), how both Lily and James had been kind people, but James had been mean as a child. Nothing about Potter James and Lily was withheld, but Yuuko wouldn't say why people might want to hurt Harry.

That was the first time she ever said "no" to him about revealing any information pertaining to himself. He could ask where babies came from, why Moro and Maru were soulless, even about some of the clients, the ones who seemed interested in making sure he was alright before making their wishes, but his aunt would not say that one thing. Harry didn't like it, but he knew that there was a reason. It could wait until his eleventh birthday, because that was hitsuzen, the one force that controlled everything.

When he was eight, right at the start of another school year for his playmates, something changed. Where once a brown haired boy with equally brown eyes a year younger had come to play with him, he found himself playing with a boy with black hair and blue eyes, and remembered having done it even though he never had. This boy had the same parents as the gold-eyed boy, and they didn't notice anything wrong, so Harry didn't say anything. Yuuko said it was because he lived in her shop that he noticed at all. (3)

Kimihiro was a lot more emotional than Syaoran, but Syaoran had a better imagination. Maybe it was because Kimihiro was constantly attracting spirits that made him less fun, but Harry had a falling out with Kimihiro within the month and he spent more and more time at the shop learning from his books and trying to do magic like Yuuko's.

Before Harry even realized it, it was his eleventh birthday. Seasons didn't mean much in the shop, the passage of the year marked by visits from spirits and Harry's occasional trip to festivals and temples. He always did his best, and learned to cook and clean so that Yuuko wouldn't have to pay a price and have magic do it.

His eleventh birthday was both a disappointment and very exciting. Eleven was a lucky number to wizards, because that was when the body could handle the price of using magic frequently, so it would have been special either way. Harry didn't expect gifts for his birthday or Christmas due to the price, so that wasn't why it was a disappointment.

Finding out his fate, to kill a man who was not alive, it was not something that Harry found to be good. But it was hitsuzen. He would eventually kill Tom Riddle, the man who was the reason why people might not like him, and why he had the scar on his forehead. It would have been a lot for the average eleven year old to handle, but Harry grew up with Yuuko, the Witch of Dimensions, and had seen spirits and demons of all sorts all his life. The idea of a spirit who had his soul split into several fragments was nothing too surprising.

Another disappointment was finding out that one of those fragments was in _him_. His scar. His scar held a piece of Voldemort's soul, but Yuuko suggested he make a wish. So he wished she would do something about it; the price turned out to be an artifact that had been passed down in his father's family called the Cloak of Invisibility. Dumbledore would give it to him, because it was his by right and to take it would only bring misery to the Headmaster.

Which was also why Harry was excited about the coming September; he was going to start school. Sure, it would be halfway across the world, but it was school. Yuuko said that there he could better test out his new power that he was given for the cloak. He had already tested it with his scar and a stone ring in Yuuko's storage, had physically _felt_ the soul fragments. Yuuko said that absorbing the pieces would make the cost of magic less to him, but that he could not absorb the whole soul without the threat of it overcoming him.

He would have to actually kill Voldemort when the time came.

Three weeks later, Yuuko took Harry to England, where he visited the Magic Alleys (his favorite was Eturn Alley, the most historic section of Wizarding London, though Horizont Alley, a "red light" district – whatever that was – had him curious). Yuuko was given a wide berth due to her reputation as the Witch, but the attraction of having _the_ Harry Potter, whether he told them he preferred Ichihara or not, was too much sometimes. It took a lot of effort to not blow up at the throng of people; instead he took a leaf out of his aunt's book and ignored them. It made his trip through the Alleys more annoying than anything else.

The last week and a half of August was spent in London, where Harry brushed up on his English. Yuuko had made sure he grew up fluent in both English and Japanese for convenience, though he convinced her to teach him a few other languages (or, rather, use his money to pay for tutors and learning material). It was a stupid, complicated language, but he was going to be attending a school where that was the only language spoken.

Well, unless Harry happened to find any snakes at school, but he preferred to think that was unlikely.

It was strange that he had to say goodbye to Yuuko, but exhilarating. With his new wand in his pocket – twelve inches, with a shaft of pine and a willow handle (4) and a dragon heartstring core from a variety of Japanese Water Dragon – he felt ready to take on the world. Yuuko said it was a beginner's tool and that she would teach him wandless magic over the summer, even though all the wizards and witches here used them because that lowered the cost. He gained many looks for being who he was and for Yuuko being who she was, but that didn't really matter because Harry was excited.

He met a lot of people on the train, some he liked and some he did not. In the latter category was, first and foremost, Draco Malfoy, a blond boy with a pointed face and a mean attitude. Harry had never met anyone like him, and not in a good way; the boy was arrogant and acted as though Harry were a speck of dirt and should be _jumping_ at the chance to be his friend. Instead, Harry used a minor hex that Yuuko taught him to turn Malfoy's hair bright orange.

The second person in that category was Ronald Weasley. He was an obnoxious redhead – funnily enough, the same shade Harry had turned Malfoy's hair - with a distinct lack of tact and seemed to think that by saying hello to Harry than they _must_ be best friends now. Harry left the compartment rather than be subjected to more mindless prattle. True, Harry wasn't the least bit normal, but he was smart and couldn't stand to be around someone who so obviously would be the sort to grouse about school work when it was meant to help. A born slacker... not the kind of person Harry would choose to associate with.

However, Harry found that Ronald's older brothers Fred and George were great. He bumped into them on accident as he tried to find a new compartment, and they were not only brilliant, but a riot. They were just the sort of people who Harry wanted to associate with, and age had never mattered much to him so long as there was fun to be had and no brain-leeching.

Living with Yuuko had taught him exactly who he wanted to associate with; people who were smart, but not restricted, fun, but not dangerously so. It was a tough bill to fit, and Harry immediately found those qualities in Fred and George. Neville Longbottom would be great too, if he ever grew a spine that is; Harry made that his mission. Hermione Granger joined that category as well, but Harry thought she still ought to loosen up. These would be his greatest companions for the year, though he didn't know it to start.

When the Sorting came, Hermione went to Ravenclaw, and Neville to Hufflepuff. The Hat spent nearly five minutes before declaring Harry would join the badger house as well. He was pleased – yellow was his favorite color – though everyone else was in shock. Apparently loyal, hard-working people didn't become heroes or some such rubbish, but Harry ignored the chatter in favor of dinner.

As the year dragged on, Harry got Hermione to be a bit less rigid – though she did put her foot down when it came to the Groundskeeper's pet Cerberus and Norwegian Ridgeback – and Neville started standing up for himself. Mostly though, Harry had fun pranking people and freaking them out with Fred and George. Classes were easy, though he was often agitated in Defense, especially if the professor turned his back to the class. True to Yuuko's prediction, he received the Cloak of Invisibility for Christmas, which Yuuko said he could bring with him for summer, since shipping costs would be high.

There was also the Mystery of the Philosopher's Stone, but Harry didn't worry about that until nearly the end of the year, when he discovered that he was a Dream Seer. Apparently Voldemort was in the back of Quirrell's head. He considered taking the fragment of soul, but instead he opted to keep the segment he wouldn't absorb where he knew where it was, or at least what state the fragment would be in.

Long story short, Harry beat the challenges with some help from his friends, Quirrell was dead, the Stone was destroyed, and Dumbledore seemed to think that Harry had no idea what hitsuzen had in store for him. Voldemort was still out and about, but this was no surprise.

Summer came and went with Yuuko teaching Harry how to do magic her way, and with the new school term Harry gained one friend and two more people that he greatly disliked. The new friend was a brilliant girl who could see all the things that Harry could, but since no one else could see them, she didn't know the proper names. Luna Lovegood was soon a member of Harry's core group of friends, though Hermione denied the existence of everything Luna and Harry knew was real.

'The List of People Who Should Stay at Least One Mile Away from Harry' now included Fred and George's baby sister Ginny, who had a crush on the Boy-Who-Lived and could be seen doodling "Mrs Ginevra Potter" in a journal in the library. She creeped him out. Gilderoy Lockhart, an obvious hack no matter _what_ Hermione thought, joined the list too. Hermione thought he should include a first year Gryffindor by the name of Collin Creevey to that list, but Harry found him funny and let the boy take pictures. He did decline signing them though, since he was leary of becoming big-headed like Professor Lockhart.

That year, Harry joined the Hufflepuff Quidditch team as seeker (5). However, he never got to play a game due to the Chamber of Secrets being opened, and something turning his classmates to stone. The fact that everyone thought _he_ was the Heir of Slytherin – have a casual conversation with one snake and suddenly you become an evil Dark wizard hell-bent on wholesale murder, never mind the fact that the Potter's descended from Helga Hufflepuff – didn't make things much easier, but Harry didn't much care. He just continued causing chaos with his friends.

He only went after Ginny because he knew Fred and George liked their baby sister. He asked a spirit – the sort that the average wizard cannot see - where she had gone, and had no problem getting into the Chamber. Finding one of Voldemort's soul-fragments hadn't been on the agenda, but Harry killed the basilisk and absorbed the soul from the journal Ginny had been toting about all year.

Back on the surface, Harry got a hero's welcome – everyone having forgotten they thought he was the Heir – and found out that Lockhart had hit the road rather than try to save Ginny. That was good. On the downside, Ginny seemed to think that Harry was in love with her. He was quick to disillusion her.

Harry knew ahead of time that Sirius Black would escape from Azkaban and did nothing to stop it. On the contrary, he bought the man a magical tent, a bunch of food, and a foe-glass to help him along. He didn't know why his godfather was innocent, but the man was, so Harry was going to help him. It was hitsuzen that Sirius would come to Hogwarts, hitsuzen that he would be present when Harry fainted on his broom due to dementors, and it was hitsuzen that Harry would go to the Shrieking Shack after the end of final exams with Ronald Weasley's rat.

It was hitsuzen that Remus Lupin would regain possession of the Marauder's Map from the twins and follow Harry when he saw Sirius Black on the map. It was hitsuzen that Harry's friends would follow him, and that Severus Snape would follow them.

* * *

Although Harry knew it was the full moon, he still went out, knowing he would be coming back with company. The moon wasn't up yet, so he set out for the Whomping Willow intent on doing as his dream had told him. There was a harsh panting coming his way, but Harry completely ignored the large Grim that was coming his way.

"I'm going myself; you can have the rat later," he stated calmly. The dog skittered to a halt but picked up the pace again as Harry cast a low-level spell on the Willow to keep it from attacking. He knew the dog was following carefully, and it kept snuffling at his robe pocket where Ronald's rat was being kept, petrified to stop it escaping like it had the last three times he tried to bring it out to Sirius.

Let it never be said that Harry could not learn his lesson... he just took some time on occasion, that was all. And this was really the best night for it, provided he could keep things working properly.

Being led around by a dog might be strange, but Harry didn't mind. He nodded solemnly to the violent spirits that occupied the building, some of which were eyeing the Grim hungrily, but he wouldn't let them eat the dog. Thankfully, being taught in Yuuko's magic gave him a certain aura that spirits respected, so they would listen to him. Somewhat.

Soon, the dog had brought him to a rather trashed bedroom that was obviously still in use given the tent in the corner. The room that Sirius Black was staying in. Harry had only just made the connection of "animagus" when the dog was replaced by his godfather, looking far better kept than he likely would without Harry's generous gifts (which had been repaid at Christmas with a Firebolt that Harry pretended was from Yuuko to make Hermione shut up).

Harry grinned at the man. "Nice to meet you, Sirius Black," he was a little excited. He'd never met anyone who knew his parents personally. Well, he assumed some of the teachers had, and Yuuko had met them both a few times, but he'd never talked to a friend of his parents. "I've wanted to meet you since I found out about your escape a year ago. You were my dad's best man, weren't you?"

Sirius looked a bit flabbergasted at Harry's attitude, but he nodded. "I... yeah, James said no one else was fit for the job," he had a curious look on his face. Well, anyone who was pegged as a traitor would be surprised that the child of those they supposedly betrayed would be _happy_ to meet them. If Harry weren't a Dream Seer, he would probably would be trying – and even succeeding – to murder the dog animagus.

They settled into a comfortable conversation, with Sirius leaning on the wall by the door and Harry sitting on the dilapidated bed. Harry hadn't learned much by way of specifics when it came to _how_ Sirius was innocent, but now he knew that Ronald's rat Scabbers was, in fact, Peter Pettigrew, the real traitor. It was as Harry was pulling the rat out to receive proof that Remus Lupin entered the room, breathing hard, and staring first at Harry holding the rat, then to Sirius, who was staring back at him.

"Hello Professor Lupin, have you taken your potion yet?" If not, Harry was going to be sure to play shiritori on the walk back up to the castle to ward away any werewolves, dementors, or malevolent spirits that might want to eat him. Well, he would anyway, but he would have to play the game faster if there was a physical evil to ward off. "No? Well, I guess that's okay, so long as you aren't tied up to our prisoner when he gets turned in. He's still stunned, but he'll need another stunner before we leave, and it might be in your best interests to stay in the shack when we leave since Professor Snape won't be bringing your potion with him. All he cares about is getting me in trouble you know, not that he needs to." The grin that had settled on Harry's face could only be called cheeky.

While the Professor tried to stammer something out, Harry explained who the rat was, about his vision, and "why didn't you tell me you were a friend of my dad's?" all before the man could properly come to himself. Halfway through that explanation, Harry saw his friends standing in the doorway and continued to explain before they caught sight of Sirius.

When Harry _was_ done, Lupin hugged Sirius, and the students – the twins, Neville, Hermione, and Luna – entered and started checking Harry over to make sure he was okay and then freaked out about _the_ Sirius Black being in the room. Then Hermione said Lupin was a werewolf, which opened a whole other jar of snakes.

Professor Snape's arrival was only given enough notice for Harry to cast a body-bind hex on him so they could _finally_ get to revealing Pettigrew as the traitor, stunned or no. Harry was already bored with the proceedings and entertained himself by stopping Sirius from actually becoming a murderer. The price the soul paid for that was far too heavy, and Harry didn't want that weight on his new found pseudo-family.

Fred and George volunteered to have Pettigrew tied to them – after the rat animagus was stunned, body-bound, tied up, and change-locked – while Harry had to very pointedly remind Remus to stay in the shack because moon rise was going to be very _very_ soon. After that, he explained the game of shiritori to his friends so they would be protected from any monsters of the moonlight. Nouns only, start your word with the last letter of the previous word (unless it was a vowel), and do it _fast_. It wasn't quite the same as the normal version, and wasn't as protective, but none of his friends knew Japanese so it didn't help much. It was better than nothing.

The walk back to the castle was filled with some minor panic and a barely-restrained Snape who still wanted to rend Sirius limb from limb, but in the end Minister Fudge came to the castle, arrested Pettigrew, and freed Sirius of all charges.

Unfortunately, when the aurors cast a finite on Pettigrew so they could interrogate him, they also released the anti-animagus spell and the rat escaped.

* * *

With that over, Harry declined living with his godfather, citing both the blood wards on Yuuko's home and that he would certainly have more opportunities to visit anyway. But that was also what started his training in the art of becoming an animagus.

Although invited, Harry did not attend the Quidditch World Cup. He had had a dream of Death Eaters and panic, and thought it best if he was not present. Yuuko praised the smart decision; Sirius was disappointed. To make it up to his godfather, Harry stayed at 12 Grimmauld Place for the last week of the summer and ended up finding yet another horcrux hidden in the old house, which he promptly absorbed.

At the start of the school year, Harry did entertain ideas of entering the Triwizard Tournament when it was announced, but he was still horrified to find himself entered. He protested vehemently, but no one listened.

In the First Task, he used a simple first year spell to retrieve his egg from the dragon, though it was a bit altered. Wizards didn't think much, and therefore they wouldn't consider using a levitation spell to fling the egg away from the dragon while it was occupied. The Horntail had been pissed, but Harry merely left the stadium not a minute after he entered. Take _that_ for ingenuity! He received high marks from Dumbledore, Bagman, and Crouch, perfect tens in fact, an eight from Madame Maxime (she felt he didn't have a sense of showmanship), and a five from Karkaroff (who claimed that a first year spell was hardly grounds for a success).

As it just so happened, when Harry opened his egg that night, it started screaming mermish at him, which he had a passing understanding of. He caught the time limit and that the merpeople would steal something from him, but he didn't worry. What they stole, equal price must be paid in the long run. He was more concerned with the Yule Ball.

Professor Sprout hadn't been entirely certain about what a homosexual champion who was required to dance with a partner should do when he also wasn't interested in starting a relationship or being outed at such a huge event. Not that Harry was really in the closet, and even less so when the headline "Boy-Who-Lived Prefers Men!" popped up in the Daily Prophet.

Funnily enough, he ended up going to the Ball with an attractive boy from Beauxbatons who was a friend of Fleur Delacour (6).

Things tend to work out for children picked by hitsuzen.

When the second task came, Harry found out that Luna (who was pretty much his best friend by this point) had been taken below the lake since the judges couldn't get a hold of Yuuko. When he arrived, he could see the magic worked on them and didn't have to worry much, though he extended his bubblehead charm to Luna and transfigured her hands and feet into flippers like his so they could get to the surface faster. He got top points again.

It was the third task that started proving problematic for Harry, because at the end of it, when he got the Cup – his path had been strangely empty of obstacles save for a sphinx (what sort of riddle was "I am so fragile that speaking my name shall break me" anyway? Silence of course!), a skrewt, an acromantula, and some strange curse that gave Harry vertigo – he was portkeyed to a graveyard. As it just so happened, Voldemort was in that graveyard with Peter Pettigrew. Harry's blood was used to resurrect the Dark Lord, and what happened after was actually rather anti-climactic. They dueled, Harry lost (obviously), but as Voldemort was about to strike the killing blow, the absorbed soul fragments transported Harry to safety.

He happened to bring Pettigrew along for the ride, and so the wizarding world knew of Voldemort's return. The grand reveal of Bartemius Crouch Jr. impersonating Moody was interesting at least, since it happened while the supposed ex-auror was talking with the Minister. Yuuko, who had come to watch the event, might have had something to do with that.

Nothing of particular import happened in Harry's fifth year, aside from various Death Eater attacks. Harry did find another soul fragment in the school when the house elves told him of the Come-and-Go Room, and after that his friends stated he was definitely more unstable. But considering he now had more than one-and-a-half souls, it kind of made sense. Other than that, Harry had his first real boyfriend in the form of Derrick Moon, a Ravenclaw in his year. It didn't last long, but it was something. He had two other boyfriends that year, but neither proved very satisfactory.

That Christmas he started showing some real progress in his animagus transformation. He could get halfway to his form, and Sirius claimed he couldn't have more than two months of training left. Harry ended up cutting that projection in half, and happily frolicked with Padfoot and Moony the rest of the full moons that school year – though he was nervous about not playing shiritori while doing so.

With sixth year came the "big reveal" from Dumbledore that Voldemort had horcruxes. When Harry admitted how completely _un_surprising this revelation was and that he had already dealt with five, the old man had been shocked speechless. It took most of the year, but they eventually found out that Hufflepuff's Cup was being kept in the Lestrange vaults. Dumbledore had to make a wish to Yuuko so they could get it, the price being that she could keep the cup - the Holy Grail that had been made with the death of one of a wizard who was worshipped by muggles.

And so only Voldemort and his pet snake were left.

Harry did not go back to Yuuko's that summer, since he had to finish things up in Britain before he could finally relax. It took the better part of the year, but Harry was deemed prepared to face the Dark Lord. He even had NEWT certifications in Runes, Divination, Defense, Charms, Potions, and Transfigurations to prove it. So with the Order at his back, he broke into Voldemort hideout – Malfoy Manor – and had no problems turning into his animagus form and eating Nagini. After all, snakes were a regular part of a honey badger's diet.

He was caught in the act by Voldemort, but by then Nagini's soul fragment was absorbed and the snake itself made enough nutritional value to have him in top form for his duel with the Dark Lord.

Too bad Harry was defeated anyway.

When he came to – quite the surprise since he had been on the brink of death – Harry killed Voldemort with a rather lethal variation of the cutting curse (invented by Snape, or so he had been led to believe) to the back. He later found out that, being on his death bed (or marble floor, whatever), Voldemort had been gloating. Dumbledore made another wish, the price of which had been his wand and magic, and Harry's life had been saved. The magic had brought him essentially back from death's door, and the wand... well, Yuuko wouldn't say what that was for, but it was probably very important. It had something to do with English wizarding folk tales, that much Harry knew.

With the first week of April - the second of the month in fact - after being awarded the Order of Merlin, First Class, Harry was finally free and able to return to Japan without any future need to visit Britain except on vacation.

* * *

Harry inhaled the wonderful scent of Spring as he made his way home, still dressed in formal robes from the Order of Merlin ceremony. It was evening here, hardly an hour before nightfall, though when his portkey left the UK it had been mid-morning. He would be staying up late, but that just meant more time to catch up with Yuuko; they had talked some, and he knew that the two Mokona Modoki, Soel and Larg, had been woken up, and that Yuuko had a minion to do her dirty work around the shop since Harry departed for his sixth year at Hogwarts, but they had only exchanged a few letters and seen each other for a few minutes when Dumbledore wished for the Cup.

The outside of the shop looked the same as ever, though it was a considerably cleaner than Harry usually came home to after Hogwarts. He chalked it up to the minion being diligent. With the light weight of his shrunken trunk tucked under his arm – if he shrunk it down to pocket sized, it bumped his leg in an annoying way – Harry continued his walk up to the house.

He was disappointed that Moro and Maru didn't rush to the door to great "Master" like they always did. They were, after all, his friends and siblings of a sort. Still, he changed his shoes to the pair of yellow self-sizing slippers that Yuuko kept for him in the entrance and made his way toward her lounge. She likely wouldn't be there, but it was a ritual that was instilled in Harry quite thoroughly.

So he didn't expect to walk into a boy. Especially not a boy who was a bit taller than him, probably about the same age, with mostly tame black hair, mismatched eyes, and a white cat-emblazoned apron. That was just weird.

The fact that walking into this boy made Harry fall on his ass and drop his trunk, which immediately resized to normal, wasn't very nice either. He had to shove the thing off of his legs before he lost feeling in his toes.

"Sorry about that!" The boy was certainly energetic, Harry noted in a pleased way. Probably the minion. "It's just... anyway, Yuuko-san isn't in right now. You'll have to come back later. I mean, I'm sure your destined to be here and your feet just brought you in – I know how that is, trust me – but since the owner of the shop isn't in you'll just have to..." He trailed off when he noticed Harry wasn't listening. "Hey, use your ears why don't you?"

"I am," Harry rolled his eyes. Take his eyes away to look at a new photo on the wall and suddenly the guy thinks he wasn't paying at least cursory attention! "Yuuko isn't home, so you want me to leave. But it's no problem; I can wait. You'd be the minion, right? The 'April Fool'?"

The kid gaped, but Harry brought himself back to his feet and lifted the trunk. He was already marching away, dragging his trunk on the floor on the way back to his room. He could tell immediately by the way the butterflies moved along the canopy and comforter that someone else had been using his bed.

One point to the minion, it seemed.

Of course, Harry was in need of some breakfast, so he figured he would head down to the kitchen... but a mix between the now-irate looking minion and the arrival of a customer kept him from getting any sustenance. She was probably high school age, wearing a nice (if plain) dress, and her hair was cut in an androgynous style that could make her seem a pretty boy or cute girl depending on her attire. Her nearly-flat chest made either option more possible than it would for most girls. Harry decided that the customer was more important than the minion.

"Hello, welcome to Ichihara Yuuko's shop," he smiled a cryptic smile that made the minion do a double take. Probably because it was identical to Yuuko's; Harry had certainly had enough practice. "Before you think to, don't apologize for entering uninvited; you were merely following your feet, weren't you? I may not be the genuine article, but I think I can fill in for my aunt just this once. So, dear girl, your wish is my command." He made a great show of bowing low, like Voldemort always insisted on for a duel. Besides, if her feet drew her here while Harry was present rather than Yuuko, shouldn't _he_ be capable of handling the wish?

The minion was gaping again, completely ignoring the customer. "You... Yuuko-san's your _aunt_?"

"Technically yes and no, but that is neither here nor there, Minion," Harry waved the minion off and walked toward the girl who had yet to speak (not that there had been much opportunity). "Come to the lounge. Yuuko-ba-chan's minion can get us tea while we discuss your wish. By the way, I am Ichihara Harry." Before she could protest, he led her through the door he had originally been meaning to enter and sat her in a chair while he took on the mystifying air expected of magicians by muggles.

The girl was not terribly impressed, and fidgeted in her seat. "I don't know why I'm here, my feet just..." she shook her head. "Well, I'm Fujioka Haruhi. I just moved into the area with my father and was exploring the neighborhood. I honestly didn't mean to come."

"And I already told you not to apologize," Harry waved her off. "There is no coincidence, only hitsuzen, as my aunt always taught me. And it is hitsuzen that directed you to this shop while I am present. So tell me, Haruhi-san, what is it that you wish? What is it that you want so badly?"

Her eyes, which were large to begin with, widened further, the brown dominating her face. Even Harry could admit she was cute.

But then she explained. Haruhi was a student at Ouran High School last term, a school for the rich that she achieved a scholarship to. There she was thought to be a boy and was inducted into the school's Host Club to pay off a debt incurred to that same club. Over time she became friends with the boys in the club and eventually fell in love with – or at least _finally_ had her first crush on – the club's president, Suou Tamaki. But Tamaki ended up falling in love with another girl and Haruhi realized that she wasn't in love, just a rather hefty crush. But it still hurt and when the term ended – she had just finished paying off her debt as well – she withdrew from Ouran and moved.

"I want to forget the Host Club, everything to do with them, and I don't want them to find me," she finally stated. Haruhi had a determined set to her jaw, and her eyes were stony before relaxing. "But that's impossible, isn't it?"

"Not at all, Haruhi-san," Harry stretched out on the lounge, looking perfectly right there. "But I need to know precisely what you want."

"I don't want them to be able to find me!" Haruhi snapped. It seemed an out of character thing for her, even though Harry had known her all of ten minutes. "Not with detectives, the internet, school records, anything. But these are ridiculously rich boys from well-connected families and there's no way it could work."

Harry thought for a moment. It wouldn't take too much effort on his part, especially the memories since he knew Yuuko liked to keep those. That sounded perfect, actually.

"Fujioka Haruhi, your wish has been granted," he leaned forward and touched a finger to the center of her forehead and she slumped into sleep.

With a smile, Harry set to work. He had to feel sorry for the girl, and his price wasn't as steep as Yuuko's due to the extra seven-eighths of a soul he possessed, though it made little difference for larger spells. Her memories would be enough. The silver threads went into a crystal phial from Harry's potions set just as the minion came in carrying the tray of tea. It wasn't too hard from there to obliviate her of the memories in question, the past twenty minutes, and cast an untraceable charm on her person that would be transmitted to her father upon contact.

When Haruhi awoke, she would be back in her apartment, and she wouldn't remember a thing.

**Author's Note: Okay, so this story will be mostly from Harry's perspective... er, I think. Not sure. I was originally thinking of just an Ouran/Holic cross (I had a different idea for HP/Holic), but then the idea of Harry being raised by Yuuko came up and I **_**had**_** to do it with all three. This won't involve Tsubasa very much, if at all, but there will be spoilers for it since xxxHolic and Tsubasa crossover a LOT. Just an extra warning.  
**

**As an explanation of Harry's magic, he does have a lower cost for using it because of the extra soul bits, but that doesn't mean he's more powerful than Yuuko or would make a better Witch of Dimensions. It just means he can cast more spells in succession than the average wizard. He has a high magical stamina, but that's really it. Wishes to him may cost less to the wisher, but he also can't do half the things Yuuko can.**

**Somehow, I'm managing to not Dumbles-bash. In fact, I made him quite noticeably good and self-sacrificing rather than... how I usually write him. Heh. Well... anyway. Hope this whole thing made some obscure form of sense.  
**

**Pairing Plans - Mori/Harry (main), Doumeki/Watanuki (background-ish), Nekozawa/Haruhi (semi-main), Neville/Hermione (highly noticeable, but still background-ish), Kyouya/Luna, Fred/Angelina (mentioned), George/Katie (mentioned), Charlie/Tonks (mentioned), Kingsley/Remus (mentioned), Sirius/Yuuko (one-sided). I was tempted to do Hermione/Himawari, but I honestly on't care about femslash and decided I like Neville/Hermione better. So Himawari gets no lovin'.  
**

**Please note that this story will not follow the canon storyline of xxxHolic despite taking place in that universe. I started writing this story before certain plot points came to light and I am NOT going back to fix it, nor am I adjusting my plot for CLAMP. That is all.**

**Oh, and uh... I actually meant to write the entire story and THEN post it... I got this and two chapters done (as well as most of chapter three) before I couldn't resist. Don't know at what rate the next chapters will be released, but I'm not entirely focused on this story either. I have Imminence to finish (my Naruto story), Reassembled (not that I actually pay attention to that), and a Pokemon/Harry Potter idea that's been poking my brain since about November, so... well, we'll see how this works out. Don't expect frequent updates anyway. Certainly not as frequent as HPatHC was.**

**Also, I suck at picking genres... help?  
**

(1) I thought it would be a nice second birthday gift for Hermione to save Harry from the Dursleys... and a good negative-ten year gift to me as well. (I know people with weird coincident birthdays; me and Hermione, my dad's ex-girlfriend and Snape, my sister and Mori... lots)

(2) In this little universe of mine, Lily's maternal grandmother was a witch (this would be in the early 1940s) and being persecuted in the wizarding side of the World War. She went to Yuuko and wished that her unborn daughter would not have to suffer persecution for being the daughter of a witch and muggle gypsy. So Yuuko made the girl a squib and the price was that Yuuko be adopted into the family by blood, thus making her eligible for the blood wards that would be needed to protect Harry forty years later.

(3) For those who do not yet know, (**SPOILERSPOILERSPOILER**) Watanuki is Syaoran. I suggest you read through Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicles to understand.

(4) Pine represents money, healing, and exorcism while willow represents the blessings of the moon and psychic awareness. It fit.

(5) Cedric did not become the Hufflepuff seeker until Harry's third year, so this _is_ possible.

(6) Beauxbatons is NOT an all girls school as it was portrayed in the movie. Want proof? Go pick up book 4 and read The Yule Ball. Parvati and Padma both dance with _Beauxbatons boys_ when they decide that Harry and Ron suck cabbages. Honest.


	2. Chapter 1

Warnings: Slash (aka men kissing other men and liking it quite a lot), fangirling, lots of OoC (but in a believable and in-context manner for the most part, so it's not THAT bad), mentioned character death, spoilers for all 7 Harry Potter books, Ouran manga through chapter 65-ish, xxxHolic through at least 150 (if not more), and Tsubasa through probably 210 (since it's so closely tied to Holic), but it's also AU to all series, three-way crossover, maybe more, such as Tsubasa or something, but not on the same scale, minor Ron-bashing, minor Ginny-bashing, very minor Tamaki bashing, minor Megumi bashing (but that's it, honest)

Disclaimers: Harry Potter belongs to JKR and affiliates, xxxHOLiC and Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicles belong to CLAMP and affiliates, and Ouran High School Host Club belongs to Bisuko Hatori and affiliates. I am not an associate of any of these groups, simply a girl beset by rabid, man-eating plot bunnies (even if they _are_ adorable!).

Features: AlternateChildhood!Harry, Determined!Haruhi, Watanuki! (his ! has to be after his name) And others from all three series (perhaps more later on too)

Chapter 1

By midnight, the minion – who introduced himself as Watanuki, eventually (he was smart to not give his full name) – had left. Harry had been worried about him leaving since Yuuko had mentioned that her minion was like catnip to spirits, but there had been an area completely bereft of them outside the gate; Watanuki had himself a spirit repellent!

To be perfectly fair, Watanuki left half an hour after nightfall, though according to him he usually stayed later. But tomorrow was the first day back at school and he wanted to be lively for "Himawari-chan." Midnight was just the time that Harry started getting bored of waiting for Yuuko to get back home with only a few non-magical objects from his trunk to entertain him and started exploring the shop to see what had changed in two years.

The first thing he noticed was Maru and Moro curled up on the floor of a room. They were napping then, focusing solely on the shop. Harry didn't dare wake them; if Yuuko had put them to sleep, and for a long time judging by the dust in the room, then there was a very good reason. He could wait for their welcome.

The second thing was that Yuuko had a new outfit from another world. Not that it screamed such, there was no label, but he could feel foreign magic in its weaving. The instinctual good will that someone who truly cared had made it with made him smile, knowing immediately that this was likely a gift from the dimension-traveling quartet, and most specifically the princess Sakura if the scent of cherry blossoms was any indication. Maybe he could meet them in the future, or hijack the Mokona to talk to them, whichever worked really.

Of course, there were plenty of other possibilities for who could have sent it, but Harry convinced himself it was them. And he wouldn't be dissuaded until he was told otherwise.

Harry's explorations ended when he heard the door open to the shop, and he rushed down the stairs to hug his aunt. He didn't have to wonder if it was her, and didn't really look at her when she pressed his head into her bosom; she was taller than him, but he didn't really mind anyway. What genetics had taken from his height must have given him elsewhere, right?

"Quite the welcoming committee I had, one minion who had no clue who I was or that I was even coming," Harry tsked his aunt when she released him. Yuuko wasn't the most conventionally affectionate woman, but she certainly liked to cuddle her almost-eighteen-year-old nephew.

"Important business; I had to make a house call," Yuuko usually didn't though. Technically, she had for Dumbledore's wish, but that had been through a communication portal and didn't count. "And since I was running late I picked up some food from the foxes for us. Larg kept trying to sneak into it."

That was when Harry noticed the black Mokona that peeked curiously up at him from Yuuko's bag. Taking notice of the creature seemed to be its cue, however, and it tackled him. A pipefox followed in its wake, though Harry wasn't as freaked out as a certain other teenager when it started writhing around under his shirt. He was having more fun poking the black meat-bun.

"These guys get woken up when I'm not even around," Harry sighed as the Mokona settled on his shoulder, seeming content to poke him in the head – an action that he fully reciprocated of course – while the fox continued examining his torso. "How not-fun! And Maru and Moro... well, I guess we're approaching the climax of whatever you've been preparing for, so I'll say no more." He shrugged and jolted his head back to avoid a poke from Larg, instead walking Yuuko to her lounge. "A client came by just after I arrived, but I guess you already knew that."

"We can talk about that later," Yuuko waved him off, and they sat down to a nice meal – Yuuko's dinner, Harry's lunch, though he declined the offer of sake that the Mokona took up – which lasted quite some time, simply talking. Yuuko already knew most everything that happened in the war; it had ended three days ago after all, and papers worldwide could talk of little else. Harry got to learn about the adventures that Yuuko forced upon her minion and what the dimension travelers were up to – some of the tales were interesting, others sad, and he couldn't help but wonder at the knowledge of there technically being at least three of the exact same person in existence. It was always interesting to hear these things, though Harry did have to make sure his information was considered of equal value.

But there was perhaps no one who had grown up with a better teacher in equality, and Harry knew quite a bit of his information was of similar emotional value to Yuuko's.

By the time Harry even realized the time again, the sun was rising and Yuuko looked completely knackered. Well, Harry was tired too, but he would have to stay up through the day anyway to get over his jet lag, even a little. He was about to promise to wake her if anyone came to the shop, but Yuuko shook her head.

"No, you won't have time to do that," it was a very simple statement, and Harry couldn't help but question it. Yuuko's devious grin made him pale immediately. "You're seventeen now, right Harry? The age of majority in Japan is eighteen for wizards, and education is compulsory up to that point."

"But I'm done with basic schooling," Harry didn't bother trying not to whine. Alright, so he was a spoiled brat, but it was a perfectly logical complaint! "I have my NEWTs all done – all of the good ones anyway - and I was going to start looking for someone to apprentice under if you said no. NEWTs are the same as the Japanese graduate certification, aren't they?"

"_Muggle_ education, Harry dearest," the slump became more pronounced. He had kept up with his muggle studies, but not enough to be considered on level with a high school third year. Doing what little he had while still maintaining his grades at Hogwarts had been rough, no matter how much Hermione approved.

"What have I done to deserve this?" The whine had yet to leave his tone. It occurred to him that if anyone from school saw him now, they wouldn't recognize him since he was usually too busy fighting for his life to whine about the unfairness of any situation. And, anyway, Yuuko obviously believed he'd done something. Technically, he didn't exist to the Japanese muggle government, though magic would have fixed that easy enough.

So, unlike what most people meant when giving such a statement, he was asking Yuuko in a very literal sense. He would have _had_ to have done something, else she wouldn't care about him going to a muggle school.

"You granted a wish for one of my clients without permission," Yuuko almost looked apologetic behind the shit-eating grin she sported, but Harry could only sigh. Of course. Never mind that the girl had obviously come when _he_ was available because of hitsuzen, it still deserved recompense. "This is merely the first step to righting what you have done wrong. Now, there's a bag by the door next to the shoe closet filled with all you need the first day, and a uniform for the school in your closet. Be out the door in one hour on the dot and head South on the road for a quarter mile until you get to a large temple. You know the one. A couple of boys meet there, and they can lead you to school... and you should probably pack your lunch."

There was no argument. Harry stood up from the conjured lounge, vanishing it back to its component particles with a lethargic wave of his hand with a sigh, and went to his room. He went through his morning ablutions – despite feeling that it was currently nearing a decent hour to go to sleep – and shuffled through his trunk for whatever necessities Yuuko didn't account for. Particularly a few perk-me-up potions to get him through the day (they were basically pure caffeine), a hangover cure (for Yuuko), and a licorice wand. They were his guilty pleasure, and he _needed_ one.

As much as Harry wanted to scream out the unfairness of the world, he knew he would be lying. If it wasn't fair (in the grand scheme of things, that is), it wouldn't happen, nor would Yuuko enforce it. So at seven on the dot he was out the door with a Western-style backpack slung over one shoulder and a bento wrapped in a large yellow handkerchief tucked under the other arm. At least he had a little yellow to brighten up his day, since the Western sky was threatening rain later. Sometimes he wished Yuuko had television so he could check the weather; he wasn't brave enough to touch her laptop, never mind actually _use_ the damned thing. He was fairly certain her unlimited high-speed internet came from a bad deal he'd helped broker when he was 13, so he wanted nothing to do with it.

Harry knew well what temple Yuuko meant for him to wait at; he'd visited every year on New Year and several other days besides that before Hogwarts. The elderly priest there had liked him (and, really, who could resist an adorable little boy with big green eyes?), and there was a pretty cherry tree there that, as he approached the gate, he could see it was in bloom already. It was one of few places other than the local park that Yuuko had taken him with any regularity.

Another boy was already standing there. He wasn't abnormally tall, but taller than the average Japanese teenager to be certain. Ronald Weasley was probably half a foot taller, but that boy was a sunflower among tulips – in other words _very_ tall and not very pretty to look at – so it wasn't much by comparison. Gold eyes – the same shade as Watanuki's right eye in fact – looked curiously at Harry when he stopped, but the young wizard didn't mind. He had the strangest urge to get rid of the cowlick near the back of the other boy's head, but refrained from a sense of hypocrisy.

It was a true testament to Harry's mental stability that he managed to look at the other boy with equal stoic curiosity rather than doing his usual routine that he learned from Maru and Moro. Somehow, he doubted that a hyperactive-child-gone-cat imitation would go well. He wasn't in the mood to get his head swatted for being stupid, thank you very much.

When the other boy _persisted_ in saying nothing for a good ten seconds – it seemed an eternity to Harry – the wizard couldn't keep from huffing like the spoiled brat he knew himself to be and holding out the hand that wasn't holding his lunch. "I'm Harry; my aunt said that if I waited here, someone could tell me how to get to my new school. I'm _guessing_ you're the one she meant, since we have the same uniform and all." Come to think of it, he didn't even know the name of his new school or if he was supposed to go to the office or something to find out what class he was in or... or anything about the Japanese school system.

Damn. His ignorance would need emergency eradication at the earliest opportunity. Which would be when he got to school.

Double damn.

Throughout Harry's self-irking mental-tirade, the other boy shrugged, but shook Harry's hand with a loosely firm grip. "Doumeki Shizuka," he stated. It might not be smart to use his real name, but Harry knew muggles held little stock in names beyond something to call someone by. Then again, Shizuka was a woman's name; maybe he had been a sickly child? Most boys given such names were renamed soon enough, so there was a chance that his true name wasn't Shizuka. If so, it was a smart ploy.

Harry contemplated talking to Shizuka, but decided against it. Not that Shizuka seemed an unfriendly sort, just that he had a feeling that bothering people at what he considered an indecent hour – never mind that his body thought it was night time – was the best way to get in their good books. He had _some_ form of social preservation... or something.

"YOU!" Harry jumped and wheeled his arms wildly at the loud outburst from behind him. His heart was beating a mile a minute, and he whipped around to pull his wand out at the sudden attacker. He could already feel the warm wood in his hand as he started to pull it out of his sleeve, and his feet were in position to move in whatever direction he needed... and then he saw Watanuki, obviously the source of the noise. "What are _you_ doing here?"

It didn't take another moment to notice Haruhi was with Watanuki, but Harry didn't much mind. He allowed his body to relax, and relished the wakening powers of adrenaline and magic flowing in his blood even as he relinquished his grip on his wand. Instead of properly acknowledging Watanuki, he took great pleasure in being melodramatic and placing his hand over his heart, as if that would actually slow the hammering.

Well, okay, it _could_ if he wanted to be semi-suicidal and use his wandless magic to try and do some healing. But he wasn't at all suicidal. Honest.

Maybe just a little...

"Watanuki-kun, you scared me!" He whined much as he had that morning and pouted. He was a grown man of seventeen and could pout if he wanted to, damn it! "Why are you so mean? We got along well enough last night -"

"Stop saying perverted things!" Watanuki was flailing angrily, a complete opposite to Harry's secretly-calm and mildly-amused atmosphere. Haruhi seemed fascinated by the exchange – not that she knew who Harry was – and Shizuka said nothing from behind Harry, so he assumed it was okay to continue for the moment.

"You know, if you think what I'm saying is perverted, doesn't that mean _you're_ thinking perverted things?" Harry had the distinct feeling that magic was bubbling in an amused way beneath the surface, causing his eyes to twinkle like a certain Headmaster... well, _ex_-Headmaster now that he had been rendered a squib, but that was beside the point. Either way, Harry didn't let Watanuki continue. "And I'm here because Yuuko-ba-chan enrolled me in your school. See? I have a uniform and everything!" He twirled on the spot to show it off, doing his best to act like a little kid, never mind his age.

Hermione _had_ said that absorbing all those horcruxes made him a bit loopy after all. Hell, Luna had _agreed_.

This got Watanuki shouting, something about not accusing him of being perverted and especially not about some shrimpy guy when he liked Himawari-chan even if she didn't know it yet and something along the lines of Yuuko being an evil excuse for a human being... well, something like that. Harry didn't actually pay attention, instead turning to Haruhi.

"Hello! I'm Ichihara Harry," he was more serious, but still putting on a genial persona for the girl. "Watanuki-kun is my aunt's minion; don't worry, I'm just poking fun at him. It's no big deal. Are you new as well?"

"Yes, I'm just lucky that my apartment is near Kimihiro-senpai's," she held out her hand, obviously intending to shake, much as Harry had extended his to the barely-responsive Shizuka. "I'm Fujioka Haruhi; I'm entering my second year." She had unwittingly given Harry to rest of Watanuki's name – now Kimihiro since he found calling people by their last name stupid when they were in his own age group and not an enemy – but Harry wouldn't use it for evil. Really.

Why was it that not even his own mind believed him? Maybe it was because it clicked so quickly that Watanuki Kimihiro was the name of his kinda-sorta playmate as a child, but Harry felt nefarious things awaited thought. Nefarious things were fun.

This time around, Harry shook her hand rather than kiss it, though he was tempted. Unfortunately, too strong a reminder, especially so soon after Haruhi was obliviated, could shake the foundation of his spellwork, so he couldn't get away with any harmless flirting, never mind that he wasn't actually interested in girls.

In the background, Kimihiro was still ranting. " - And why'd Yuuko-san shove you on us anyway? I mean, are you even old enough to be in high school?"

To be fair, Harry did look younger than he was. By a year, tops. So, worst comes to worst, he looked about Haruhi's age, that is, sixteen years old. Just because he _acted_ like he was thirteen or so sometimes didn't mean he _was_ though.

"I'm seventeen, _Kimi-kun_," okay, that was a bit uncalled for, but Harry was proving a point, damn it! "And I'm _assuming_ Yuuko-ba-chan enrolled me as a third year, so don't you dare go around calling me otherwise. We're year mates, maybe even classmates..." he trailed off as, quite suddenly, Kimihiro's eyes fuzzed out. It was only for a moment though.

It was easy enough to identify the cause; Harry had certainly seen it often enough. But why would him mentioning what year they were in cause Kimihiro to recall something? An obliviate usually wasn't triggered by something that simple, so unless Kimihiro had given up a good part of his life, willingly or no, then Harry couldn't really think of any particular reason. But it was probably important, so asking Yuuko would be a bad idea.

"We have fifteen minutes before morning assembly," Shizuka interjected. To be honest, Harry could have easily forgotten he was there. But his voice seemed to snap Watanuki out of it, and he was suddenly flailing wildly, a rather large bento that had slipped Harry's notice swinging dangerously close to his head.

"Gah! I have to talk to Himawari-chan before assembly!" And he was running off, quite quickly at that. Harry wondered how long it would take before the spirits started flocking around, but didn't feel like testing his luck. He followed the slightly-younger boy, if only to dissuade spirits from molesting his aunt's minion.

The rest of the walk – once they caught up with Kimihiro – passed in idle chatter between Harry and Haruhi, with Watanuki ranting about how they were slowing him down. But he also kept within a certain range of the other four. It occurred rather suddenly to the wizard that perhaps Shizuka was the one who had escorted Kimihiro the night previous, since no spirits had come in their general vicinity. It certainly wasn't Harry's influence; spirits were curious about there being nearly two full souls in one human body, though not so much to eat him thankfully, yet kept a small amount of space because of Yuuko's teachings. Curiosity did not equate to a murderous rampage or an empty stomach, else Harry might be in the same boat as Kimihiro.

At the gate of a school, there waited a malevolent presence… also known as a cute teenaged girl with very curly hair and a little yellow bird on her shoulder. Normally pets wouldn't be allowed at school, to Harry's knowledge anyway, but since the bird seemed to quell the presence, he made no comment. That, and it was yellow, ergo a very good thing. Still, there was an unlucky air that permeated the surrounding few meters, and Harry wasn't keen on breathing any of that in; Potter luck was unpredictable enough.

Kimihiro ran directly toward the girl and started fawning over her, which Harry found amusing since she was clearly not interested in that way. He assumed this was "Himawari-chan". Still, Harry freed himself of the others and decided to get a look around before the "morning assembly" thing that Shizuka had mentioned. Ever curious, he decided to ignore everyone around him – including the large spirit that seemed to be roaming the grounds protectively – and tried to get a layout. He hardly got anywhere before a voice over the loudspeaker declared it was time for morning assembly.

Harry made sure to follow the crowd, though everything seemed an organized chaos. Even the first year students seemed to have some idea what to do, though they weren't as organized as the older students. In the end, one of the teachers (or, Harry assumed she was a teacher; she had a McGonagall-esque air) called out announcements (Harry didn't pay any attention) and called the students into lines the would be their class; Harry joined the line that Shizuka was placed into (class 3-B) while Kimihiro and his pseudo-girlfriend were in 3-E and Haruhi was sent to join class 2-A. It was all very boring and Harry found himself staring at the storm clouds that were almost to the school.

Having never been to muggle school, Harry had no idea what to expect. He assumed it would be somewhat similar to magical school, just without the magical classes, but he was immediately proved wrong. The desks were in a completely different position for starters, and he was shocked to find that the teachers switched classrooms and not the other way around except for in the case of elective classes. It seemed a terrible waste for none of the teachers to be able to really set up, but that was life. The only time he _wasn't_ with the rest of his class was when they had English; since he was already fluent, Yuuko had signed him up for an extra period of PE, which he took with the secondary group of second years (classes E through H).

Well, he had a period of art (which he suspected he would fail spectactularly) and on Fridays he had a free period, but otherwise he had the same schedule as the rest of 3-B.

More than that though, he was irked with his aunt. When the homeroom teacher first called out his name as "Hari," he was kind to correct the man. It wasn't an uncommon mistake. But when each subsequent teacher did it, he became a bit irked. Between Math and Science, he looked at the class roster and scowled; the name "Ichihara Hari" was written quite clearly in kanji on the sheet, Hari even being spelled with the kanji for needle (1). Yuuko was a mean woman.

But he persisted in correcting his teachers and spelling his name with the kanji for "army" and "leader" with the katakana spelling up top instead of whatever girly furigana they would try to foist on him. (2)

Whether he had been a sickly baby or not – which he _wasn't_ – he did not have a girls' name! Harry had never been mistaken as female and he refused to be, so it was as simple as that. Some of his new classmates seemed amused, but they kept quiet after each protest.

Aside from that, Harry's day was pretty boring. He wasn't sure how well he could keep up on the lessons, but to be fair, he was going to be eighteen in a few months and could then get out on his own if he _really_ didn't want to go to school. Yuuko might refuse to apprentice him at that point, but he doubted it; being the Witch of Dimensions' nephew did have _some_ perks after all.

Kimihiro seemed reluctant to go to Yuuko's shop that day, even – or especially - when Harry offered to act as escort. Not that the other boy trusted him, nor did Harry really care much about _him_, but he had magic. That was usually something to spirits.

"Look, it's… complicated, but I have to wait for that idiot, Doumeki, got it?" Kimihiro scowled. "I have a habit of getting into trouble and he's handy for getting me out of the types of trouble I get into. That's _all_." It took Harry about three seconds to figure out _exactly_ what was being said.

"And spirits respect me for the most part, so it shouldn't be all that bad," Harry shrugged. "Besides, using magic in front of you wouldn't get me in trouble like it would most other people since you work for Yuuko." No need to mention the well of untouched magic that resided in Kimihiro, which made it suspicious at best that he wasn't attending a magical school. And there was a definite magical tie between him and Doumeki, particularly stemming from that one gold eye (and what seemed to be multiple Life Debts).

"Y-you… you're related to _Yuuko_," Kimihiro finally sputtered. "You'll just make me pay you back ten times if you have to do anything on my behalf. And you didn't have any problems stealing Haruhi-san's memories yesterday either. That's not trustworthy at all!"

Sometimes, Harry wondered why he bothered. No, more than sometimes, but it was often enough. He just rolled his eyes and walked off; what defense was there to someone who didn't want to hear it anyway? So far Kimihiro seemed like he was a loud mouth (much like Ronald), but he was sure there was _something_ good in there. It just hadn't been shown yet was all.

Back at the shop, Harry glared at Yuuko but didn't call her on the whole Hari/Harry thing. He'd probably done something to deserve it.

Then again...

* * *

School picked up the pace quickly, especially considering this was the last year of high school before the other students would be going off to either university or to get jobs in the real world. Harry wasn't like the rest of course, but he still had to write essays, read books, and do homework like them, unless he wanted detention after school. Before he knew it, it was Golden Week (3) and Yuuko sent him on an errand back to England for the week. Everyone recognized him of course, but as soon as he acquired his honor guard – all he had to do was go to Weasley's Wizard Wheezes on Diagon Alley after all – they all left him alone.

"It's been a month and you haven't even written!" George pouted as he hung off of Harry like some simpering fangirl (or boy). "I mean, I know you must be busy, but you could at least tell us about that bat-shit aunt of yours!" Fred was still in the store packing up while Harry was "being led" (more like he was dragging George) to Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlor.

"She is _not_ bat-shit," Harry rolled his eyes. The twins had once told him there were three levels of insanity: Loony (endearingly loopy), Barking Mad (which was homicidal tunnel-vision style, generally reserved for Death Eaters and Voldemort – or, as the twins had christened him, Voldy), and bat-shit (completely off their rocker, which is what they claimed Yuuko seemed to be from the few meetings they had with the woman). But there was no arguing since the twins were, if nothing else, stubborn. "Anyway, my _aunt_ sent me to pick up her order from you guys and I have to check up on Dumbledore now he's a squib and a bunch of other things, so you guys only have me for today."

He was quite adamant about this point; Yuuko had given him a pretty packed schedule with everything he had to pick up and arrange. Technically he had more free time than that, but he had to visit Hogwarts as well to find out where to find Dumbledore, speak with McGonagall, and hang out with his friends who had continued school (unlike Fred and George who dropped out in protest of their mother pressing them to join the Ministry). Then he had deliveries to pick up and a squib to talk to.

The fact that a lot of firewhiskey was involved in this was not to be mentioned; thankfully, Harry was considered of age here, so he could pick up the liquor without any questions beyond "Why would Harry Potter need enough firewhiskey to kill all the dragons in Romania?"

"To do with as we wish?" George tightened his hold on Harry and glared at an elderly witch who decided to stare at the Vanquisher. Harry narrowly avoided George's taunting flirts – most particularly the false attempt at nibbling his ear. Just because Harry was gay, it didn't mean he appreciated his friends hitting on him, especially not when those friends happened to be in steady relationships with women and were only picking on him.

Somehow, he doubted most gay men were hit on by straight men. He couldn't figure out if it was a compliment either.

Still, George finally grew a skeleton and started dragging Harry to the ice cream parlor instead of the other way around. They both got free ice creams since having Harry present had already been a draw to the Alley despite him only being around for ten minutes. Florean had always seemed to like Harry anyway, despite his fame rather than because of it, so he didn't fuss over it.

The chatted over idle things: how was the family? Was Charlie enjoying the Welsh dragon reserve or was the Romanian one still his home? How was Bill dealing with the desk job? What were the highest sellers? How much longer until they finished testing the Marauder Line of Pranks? Where the hell _was_ Sirius, anyway?

When Harry left, barely three days since Voldemort's defeat, Sirius had been likely to raise a stink, but he didn't. It was weird, but he didn't seem to mind overly much. He had claimed that if that was what Harry wanted, then he would back him a hundred percent, but to be wary of spontaneous visits. To keep busy, he had joined Fred and George as a full partner in the pranking business as soon as they set up shop two years ago, and Harry had fully expected him to be at the shop when he popped in for a visit.

"Went somewhere with Remus and Tonks," George shrugged. "Said he'd be back sometime between lunch and closing though, so since you're ours _all day,_ he can irk you with us for the evening and bring Remus and Tonks with him to boot, I would think. You okay with that plan?"

"How can I not be?" He was, after all, seeing his friends and family for the first time in a month for whole week, and Morgaine only _knew_ how much longer it would be before they could visit or he could come again. Considering he was forced to attend school for another few months, he probably wouldn't be back until he "dropped out" of the muggle system that he had never existed in anyway, though his friends – both in the current graduating class and the next – might be able to visit...

Still, after years of knowing with definite times that he would be guaranteed to see his friends again, Harry found the shaky schedule to be less than pleasing.

Thankfully, it was about then that Fred arrived. Judging by the ice cream in his hand, he had been in the shop for at least a minute already, but had judged himself capable of waiting a full minute before joining Harry and George; that _had_ to be a record of some sort.

They continued catching up over ice cream, getting a second and third round as they continued their conversation (though they agreed that they probably should have moved it to a room at the Leaky Cauldron or the twins' flat, they were too lazy to get up despite the fact that the ice cream was starting to make them feel queasy). Eventually, it was Harry who suggested they get moving as they probably wouldn't be able to catch Sirius otherwise.

As it just so happened, Harry's minor ability in Divination came to use as they arrived just when Sirius, Remus, and Tonks did. Harry was glad to see them, and they were glad to see Harry. For a moment, he had one of his shakier attitudes, which were never pretty, but Sirius later informed him that it was a short one.

He silently thanked the gods for that. The last time that happened in public... well, it would suffice to say that one of his animagus form's less desirable aspects came into play (4), and no one wanted a repeat of that particular incident.

These episodes had been happening with increasing frequency, unfortunately. They had started when he absorbed the Diadem horcrux – nothing more than him becoming rather moody and irrational at first – and increased with each subsequent absorption. The effect itself had increased so much that Harry knew he was subconsciously hiding the memories, which he would sift through in the morning. Before the end of the war, he'd had an attack once every other month, tops, but he'd had two in April (no one else was present thankfully), and now this one.

"Ah, don't worry about it, my little badger," Sirius ruffled his hair, "everyone can still reproduce and all you really did was dig a hole in the storage room floor before we got you up here with some honey. No big deal." And, indeed, Harry had a rather embarrassing amount of honey on his hands, face, and stuck to his shirt. Damn.

"By the way, don't go in the bathroom!" Fred called from the small kitchenette – likely also covered in honey mess judging by the state of things – as Harry started using cleaning charms on himself. "We've got a boggart -"

"Stuck in the cupboard," George continued, completely unaffected by his brother being in the other room. "We were going to -"

"Take care of it today -"

"But Harry's sudden appearance -"

"Was rather distracting."

"Though I suppose you lot could -"

"Help, being a bunch of Defense geniuses -"

"And an auror. After all, aren't honey -"

"Badgers the most fearless -"

"Animals out there?"

Tonks snorted but nodded her assent, and Remus was so entirely used to his fear that there was no way he would refuse. Harry wondered what his fear might be now; in his third year it had been failing at the mission Yuuko had laid out for him, and he hadn't faced any since then. It was bound to be different.

He agreed though; the more people there were, the easier a boggart was to handle... that and he had to pee. Since the twins' place seemed to be their hang-out for the evening before Sirius took Harry to his place – having already called dibs on having a sleepover – it was kind of necessary anyway.

When he was faced with cold, rattling breath, screams in his head, and a dark cloaked figure, his wand didn't seem as much of a defense as it should. But he had no problems sending out his patronus – a flurry of silver butterflies – to keep the feeling away long enough to be rational and use _Ridikulus_. The dementor was replaced by a teetering pile of three pre-teens covered in a ragged old cloak. As they toppled over, everyone laughed in relief, and the boggart dissipated.

Harry immediately understood why he disliked dementors so much; he didn't like the cold. He preferred cold weather to warm of course – one could, conceivably, keep piling on more sweaters and blankets in the cold, but only so much clothing could be removed in polite company – but a dementor's breath was a bone-deep cold that made his head swim as though someone had just dumped him in the lake in winter wearing naught but his skin _after_ he'd been holding his breath for two minutes. He was quite pleased when Remus started dispensing his not-so-secret stash of chocolate that "hid" in his cloak.

"It's quite brave of you to be afraid of dementors," Remus assured him, as if Harry were _ashamed_ of his fear or something. "It means the thing you fear most is fear itself."

But Harry knew bull shit when he heard it, and called Remus on that. "I'm not afraid of fear, I'm afraid of my past coming up to haunt me; you would be too with what I remember," because his extra seven-eighths of soul were just as effected by the dementors as he was, and Voldemort's memories up to the creation of his last horcrux – not even a month after his resurrection – were none too happy. Even though Harry couldn't consciously recall them, they were there. "Besides, being afraid of a concept is pretty stupid."

No one quite knew what to say to that.

The remainder of the evening was far more fun and involved copious quantities of chocolate before Remus called bedtime on everyone – in that he had to get home to have some "bed time" with Kingsley Shacklebolt before the new Minister for Magic had to go to sleep in order to be awake come morning – and Sirius dragged Harry off to Grimmauld Place. There, they enjoyed another hour or so of drunken debauchery before Harry fell asleep on the couch.

It wasn't home, but there were some things he couldn't have back home. As Harry slipped into hazy dreams, he found he was pleased.

Just for this week, he wasn't lonely.

**Author's Note: Just so you lot know, yes Harry will be having unhinged moments; having only a partial soul turned Voldy into a raving lunatic (he was fairly reasonable and smart before he started making horcruxes in my opinion), and I think having more than one soul would definitely have some effects on Harry's equilibrium. He will seem to bounce in between perfectly sane and Harry-esque to being kinda weird to relying on his base instincts rather than actual thought (which is usually colored by his animagus form because he ate Nagini), but I'll go more into that later. Promise.**

**Yes, there will be more Harry Potter characters and Ouran characters coming into the story. Adding Haruhi to the story would do nothing if the Hosts didn't come, and some of the HP characters – particularly Luna – are too epic **_**not**_** to be included. In fact... well, you'll see :)**

**Drop me a PM or review with any questions, comments, compliments, insults, horrified exclamations, and anything else you want to throw my way! I'll try to address them all. (Please note that all reviews that point out pertinent things that I think readers should know might be quoted. Thanks.)**

**Expect Chapter 2 next Friday or Saturday (depending on various factors), but after that it's all as-written rather than pre-written material.  
**

(1) Hari is a girl's name in Japanese, and the kanji for needle is read Hari, so I decided that Yuuko would be obnoxious. The name Hari is actually supposed to be written with the kanji for crystal rather than needle, but Yuuko is, again, being obnoxious. You can make a dirty joke out of it if you want to.

(2) The name Harry (not the nickname derived from Harold) means "army ruler" in English, therefore the kanji to write Harry's name would be those (determining kanji depends on meaning, not sound). Katakana is the Japanese alphabet used to express foreign words and ideas, while furigana is the hiragana (regular Japanese character-set) written above kanji to help with pronunciation. While it might be wiser for Harry to use the wrong name, he has his pride and it's not like Ichihara – or even Potter – is his real name anyway.

(3) Golden Week (in Katakana Gouluden Uiku) is a week spanning from April 29 to May 5 (so, if you are reading this close to post-date, right about now) that contains multiple holidays (including Children's Day and a day to celebrate the Japanese Constitution). There are loads of festivals and no school or work for most people.

(4) Honey badgers are famous for attacking male humans' testicles when provoked. (Wikipedia, look up Honey Badger)


	3. Chapter 2

Warnings: Slash (aka men kissing other men and liking it quite a lot), fangirling, lots of OoC (but in a believable and in-context manner for the most part, so it's not THAT bad), mentioned character death, spoilers for all 7 Harry Potter books, Ouran manga through chapter 65-ish, xxxHolic through at least 150 (if not more), and Tsubasa through probably 210 (since it's so closely tied to Holic), but it's also AU to all series, three-way crossover, maybe more, such as Tsubasa or something, but not on the same scale, minor Ron-bashing, minor Ginny-bashing, very minor Tamaki bashing, minor Megumi bashing (but that's it, honest), **contains 3 omake (beware!)**

Disclaimers: Harry Potter belongs to JKR and affiliates, xxxHOLiC and Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicles belong to CLAMP and affiliates, and Ouran High School Host Club belongs to Bisuko Hatori and associates. I am not an associate of any of these groups/people, simply a girl beset by rabid, man-eating plot bunnies (even if they _are_ adorable!).

Features: AlternateChildhood!Harry, Determined!Haruhi, Watanuki! (his ! has to be after his name) And others from all three series (perhaps more later on too)

Chapter 2

It was mid-June, and once again Harry found himself missing his friends from Britain. After two years holed up at Hogwarts or scouring the country, one would think he might be sick of seeing them all so much, but two months had passed with him only seeing them once, and that break to his routine was indescribably unpleasant. He had been exchanging letters with Hermione, Neville, Luna, Sirius, Dumbledore, and the Twins whenever he could, but the first three were preparing for exams – two for NEWTs at that – while the three pranksters were busy with the Marauder Line of Pranking Supplies, and Dumbledore, despite his new squib status, was still a highly influential political figure in the wizarding world.

They were all too busy for him, and Harry found himself without companionship.

Okay, so he got along well enough with Mokona, and he loved Yuuko dearly, but it wasn't the same. He was accustomed to having his little group of friends, a little group of enemies (or not so little if one included the Death Eaters), and a large group who might as well not have existed to him.

Yuuko had often suggested that he try to befriend Kimihiro and Shizuka (though she referred to them both by surname), but he couldn't really find much motivation. Kimihiro disliked him on the mere basis that he was related to Yuuko, and it was obvious that Shizuka only cared to socialize with one person in their age group. Over the past two months, Haruhi had gained a lot of friends and admirers – despite being blunt and a bit oblivious, she was highly personable and quickly grew popular – but Harry couldn't be friends with her. Having wiped her memories, getting too close would be a bad idea. Even though he was coming to regret wiping her memories as he took time to look at them.

The spells that kept her old friends from finding her held up well enough, so Harry really had no reason to be around her, and everyone at school found him to be a bit... crazy. He hadn't _done_ anything, but he must just exude the crazy-vibe or something.

It also left him without an excuse, on June seventeenth, as to why he should be out and about, particularly attending an archery competition. Due to no close ties to Shizuka – aside from very occasionally joining him and Kimihiro on their walk to school and being in the same class – he couldn't use him as an excuse, and he didn't have any other friends among the club (or in the school for that matter), so he couldn't say they were the reason. Of course, if Shizuka or Kimihiro bothered to ask, he would tell the truth, that he'd had a dream that said he should come, but to anyone else he told a cock-and-bull excuse about Shizuka doing odd jobs for his aunt and her wanting some pictures of the event.

The fact that his camera was in an old style – quite new by wizarding standards considering it was color film – seemed to led credence to the "crazy" theory that was running about school.

He wasn't at all surprised to find that Haruhi's friends had taken her with them, though unlike those girls she went for fun, not to oggle cute boys (Harry found this an honorable enough reason), nor that Himawari (the unlucky girl Kimihiro thought he was in love with) had "forced" Yuuko's minion to attend with her. By his squirming, Harry didn't even have to guess that a certain pipefox was flitting about under his shirt.

Harry was content to take a few wizarding photographs before the event until he saw the sign being placed that said exactly which schools were competing.

That was when the first limousine pull up.

He had said he would prevent Haruhi's old friends from Ouran from finding her, not running into her on accident. And Harry could easily recognize the tall blond boy who was definitely at least half Caucasian from the photographs he had requisitioned from Haruhi's apartment, never mind the many memories that highlighted him. And the shorter blond who entered with a certain tall, dark, and handsome. And the black-haired boy with glasses. Then the red-haired twins... yes, Harry recognized them all. Not by name of course – Haruhi hadn't labeled the photographs, and he made sure to turn off audio in the pensieve for the few memories he did look at – but these were the same boys Haruhi had gone to school with. There was a girl with them, similar to Haruhi in looks, hanging off of the arm of the tall blond who was probably the boy Haruhi had "loved".

They all wore the same light blue uniform jacket, black pants, and dress shoes with the exception of the blond boy (there was no way he was as young as he looked however) and the man he had entered with, both of whom were wearing the Tokyo University uniform; probably the oldest of the Hosts from Haruhi's year at Ouran, though Harry couldn't be entirely sure. Both were speaking to boys who were obviously related, though one looked like an older version of the blond (plus glasses) while the other was a younger version of the dark-haired man, wearing the blue uniform. The girl wore a pale yellow dress that poofed in away that Harry found rather unappealing, even if he did like girls. If it weren't for the fact that among them was a younger boy – probably a first year, since, like the last two, Harry didn't recognize him from Haruhi's photos – had a bow and a registration number on his back, Harry might have though they were there _just_ too look pretty.

Apparently Haruhi's old friends had come with the intention of supporting a club member... and looking pretty of course. Quite noble intentions.

Subtly, Harry made his way over to where Haruhi was sitting in the stands. It was a tough debate; if he knowingly allowed the Ouran boys to notice and recognize Haruhi, was that a breach in their contract? But, as he'd already noted, there was nothing he could do if they accidentally met later in life. There were a million chances that she would meet them at any point in the future, so if he interfered, would _that_ be a breach? It would certainly set an impossible precedent, since he couldn't be there every time they met.

It was a confounding dilemma, but Haruhi solved it for him, in her own way. Because _she_ saw the pretty boys from Ouran, and wondered aloud who they were. She obviously remembered being popular at Ouran, and Harry had a feeling she had known just about everyone, so those blank places in her memory would be glaring.

If he stopped them from noticing her, it would probably be worse in the long run because other people from the school were bound to notice her. Already a lot of students from the rich school, particularly female students, were looking at her with eyes full of shock and denial. A girl was running up to the group who were undoubtedly the Host Club... at this point, there was nothing to be done short of erasing the last five minutes from everyone's minds and placing an obfuscation ward around Haruhi, the price for which most certainly did _not_ fit into what had been paid, and asking the price when she didn't know what it was for would be occupational suicide.

"HARUHI!!!" This cry rose from most of the Host boys – the red headed twins, and the two blonds from the photographs to be specific – while Harry could, from a distance, see lips moving on the two dark haired boys that Harry had recognized. They were obviously the more reserved members of the group. The archer seemed to have some glimmer of recollection while the other two first years (if Harry's estimation was correct) definitely recognized Haruhi as many Ouran students now were... just highly shocked that she was wearing a girl's uniform.

The tall blond was the first to reach Haruhi, and Harry had to restrain himself from restraining him as Haruhi was enveloped suddenly in an all-encompassing hug that obviously confused her. But he didn't move an inch, even as everyone from his school took several steps back, as if to give room for the reunion, not until Haruhi was being fussed over by all of her old friends who were in the mood to make a fuss.

The questions were fairly predictable. "Where have you been?" "Why did you leave?" "Why didn't you call?" "What happened to your cell phone?" "You look so pretty dressed as a girl – why did you always refuse anyway?" "Did you know we would be here?" "Were you kidnapped by yakuza? I bet it was Casanova!"

Well, perhaps not entirely predictable. Why would someone named "Casanova" kidnap Haruhi, and what did yakuza have to do with anything?

So, while Harry did interfere, Haruhi had already spoken to them before he could.

"Please let go of me," she shoved herself out of the taller blond's chest, clearly annoyed. "I don't like being attacked by strangers." With her ex-friends aghast for a two second period – the smaller blond's lip wibbled – Harry brought himself to their attention.

"Haruhi-san, I think Himawari-san wanted to ask you about something," it was blatantly _not _casual for the simple fact that Haruhi wouldn't notice he was giving her an out if he said it in the innocuous way that one is supposed to. She gladly took it and scurried away; the members of her old club who had come at a more sedate pace weren't even there yet. Harry vanished into the crowd, but kept a close eye on the Hosts who were unable to follow Haruhi through the stands.

Talk died down as the competition started just then, though he still heard murmurs about how lucky Haruhi was to have such good looking boys for her friends. More than a few nearby girls claimed they never would have left such a school with boys like _that_ attending. Many Ouran girls in rather ugly pale-yellow dresses expressed complete shock over the fact that the boy they liked the year previous was really a girl.

Eventually though, Harry had to intervene again. There was enough of a break in the crowds that the group would have been able to get through, which they were beginning to exploit, and even though it wasn't part of the contract, Harry wouldn't allow it. His spellwork was good, and the _Obliviate_ was solid, but it was still semi-fresh, and too much interaction would break it completely. If Haruhi became friends with them again, that was fine, but Harry had several things in mind that would probably get him in trouble with Yuuko, as most things seemed to lately.

They had no idea what they were getting into.

Naturally, none of the boys were pleased to find the same lad who had allowed Haruhi's escape getting in their way once again. By the glint of the dark-haired high school student's glasses, he immediately caught Harry's action for the cock-block it was. The same could be said of the two college students.

But, rather than do anything dramatic, Harry stuck his hand in his pocket, conjured a piece of paper with a note on it and laced with a potent compulsion, and handed that note over to the boys without preamble. And then he sank back into the crowd before anyone could say anything. Sometimes he was truly grateful for his lack of height, since it allowed him to blend easily with the masses paying rapt attention to the competition.

When it was over, and Harry had more photos of the event, including one of Haruhi's old friends, he went to a small flat he had purchased in preparation for when he would move out of Yuuko's house (as he knew he must eventually). The compulsion he had placed on the note was first to force the Hosts to leave Haruhi alone for the rest of the day, and the secondary layer would compel the ones from Haruhi's pictures – the two college students, a too touchy-feely blond, the twins, and the dark-haired by with glasses – to come to the address he had written on the note.

That address happened to be the one to Harry's flat.

The arrived en masse, just as Harry set out the tea in the main room of the flat. It wasn't decorated at all, completely bare but for the essentials that he had already purchased. There were plenty of couches, all black and a soft yellow, the table was made from willow like his wand, and while the carpet was a deep wine color in homage of Yuuko (and because purple and yellow went well together), the walls remained the same cream they had been when he first found the place. There were no pictures or knick-knacks, nothing more personal to the place than Harry exercising his will to have it in colors that he found pleasing.

He ushered in the rather serious looking group with a bright smile and loud "welcome" which seemed to throw them all off guard. He escorted them to the coffee table and got them all situated with their tea before any of them could even get a word in edgewise.

"Sorry about having to be so rude earlier, but I felt that the conversation we're going to have ought to be in private instead of in front of a bunch of teenagers," Harry launched in the moment he had sat down. "Perhaps we can start with introductions so I have names to put with faces? I'm Ichihara Harry." He kept his tone pleasant and his smile bright.

Something inside of him twinged, but why he couldn't say.

Introductions went around. The red-headed twins were Hitachiin Hikaru and Kaoru – Harry cataloged the differences between them quickly, which were definitely more myriad than those between Fred and George – Ouran second years. The ridiculously young-looking college student was Haninozuka Mitsukuni, (the other boys mostly referred to him as "Hani-senpai") while Mr "tall, dark, and handsome" was Morinozuka Takashi ("Mori-senpai" as the others said), both of whom had just started at Tokyo University and were cousins. The tall blond boy who had all but tackled Haruhi was Suou Tamaki, a third year at Ouran (not to mention the boy who broke her heart), and the last was Ootori Kyouya, also a third year.

"If you don't mind my asking, Ichihara-san, why are we here?" Ootori Kyouya asked, his eyes masked by the reflected light in his spectacles. Harry adjusted his own eye-wear unconsciously. The subtle question underneath was quite clearly "what made us come to you?" rather than "what do you have to say?" But Harry wouldn't answer the intended question.

"Well, to be frank, I thought you lot ought to know that Haruhi-san has no idea who you are, what your Host Club is, or why you were all over her this afternoon," his eyes matched each set as they spoke. He didn't have to be a seer to predict the following outburst.

Tamaki and the twins had jumped up, shouting and running over each others words so that Harry could barely make out a single syllable – thankfully, he'd had the foresight to soundproof the flat already – let alone what angry, shocked words they were actually saying. Mitsukuni's eyes had gone wide and he seemed torn between disbelief and morbid curiosity. Kyouya didn't seem to react at all, but Harry was certain that his eyes had widened and his shoulders stiffened.

Takashi's reaction was the only one that could really be categorized as violent. Shards of shattered teacup, broken by a startled, tightening of his grasp, now littered the carpet, and the tea itself had gotten just about everywhere. One hand dripped blood into the other that cradled it.

Maybe Harry was a bit reckless, but he wasn't stupid. He conjured a first aid kit under his chair and pulled it out for Takashi to use. It was only when they realized that one of their own was hurt that the twins and Tamaki stopped going insane while Mitsukuni started tending to the wounds. Harry had no idea what to do anyway; he'd never had to use muggle first aid, though he knew what was kept in them. So he waited for things to finally calm down; it took roughly five minutes.

"Done going insane? Yes? Fantastic," Harry shrugged each shoulder individually to get out a knot in his back. "And I wasn't kidding. Haruhi-san literally has no memories of you. She remembers attending Ouran last year, and she remembers that everyone thought she was a boy, but there are a lot of other blank spots and I don't know how well she's filling those in. My aunt is a specialist in cases like Haruhi-san's, and to be quite frank, there's only one reason she forgot all that stuff."

Dramatic pauses, as Harry found out, were not as well appreciated as he thought they were.

"_Well_?" Tamaki had this desperate sort of look in his eyes. "What's wrong with my daughter?"

Harry just gave him a weird look. "Your... Tamaki-san, I've met Haruhi-san's father, and he is not blond, a teenager, or openly male. Just... no," he shuddered, trying not to think of the ramifications of the statement. "Anyway, she forgot about the Hosts – you – because she wanted to, and there are a lot of different possible outcomes. If you guys press her too hard, her mental block could break and she'll remember it all at once, including what made her want to forget you, which would not be good for her mental health. She might just never remember anything and go on as if her year at Ouran didn't involve you guys. There are dozens of scenarios leading just to those two outcomes."

The fact that Harry hadn't really thought of _any_ of this until he had apparated to his flat didn't come into the equation.

"That isn't _possible_," this was Hikaru, "she can't have just blocked out a year of her life!"

"And she didn't, just anything involving Ouran High School Host Club," he glanced around at everyone's mostly untouched tea and shrugged. "I just thought you guys should know, now you've found her, that doesn't mean she's yours again. Haruhi-san has found a happy life at her new school, and I just think you should take a look at what was wrong with her old life before you start trying to force yourselves on her."

They knew a dismissal when they heard one. Tamaki exited first, his hands tucked into fists as he marched out the door. After him was Kyouya, who looked speculative more than anything else, and the twins after. Takashi seemed ready to leave, but Mitsukuni stopped beside Harry's chair, his cherubic face shadowed by his blond fringe.

"Why did she leave?" Mitsukuni asked. Harry had a feeling he already knew.

"From what I gather, Haruhi-san led an emotionally stunted life due to her mother's death and her own nature," Harry didn't try to catch the smaller boy's eye, though he could feel the eyes of the other college student on him, watching like a hawk. "Aside from that one death, she's never had to deal with any great emotional upheaval. The fact that her first acknowledged crush chose someone similar to her, and yet so very different... she didn't think she was strong enough to handle it." Harry turned his head. "I disagree, but then again, I don't know Haruhi-san very well. Just what I've found out since the start of the school year."

In actuality, he had looked into plenty of Haruhi's memories, less personal ones than what Mitsukuni wanted to know, but there were three he considered the most enlightening; the first was her and several of the Hosts watching Tamaki eat lunch with another girl, second was her father coddling her as a child, and third was Haruhi sitting on a couch with a boy with red hair who obviously had a crush on her while the Host boys tried to intervene. It was... enlightening as to her character, even those small moments, and Harry could be nothing _but_ serious about it. He could now see why Yuuko hadn't liked that he had granted the wish in such a straightforward manner.

It had nothing to do with messing with fate; it simply led to him second guessing if he should have done it. While Haruhi was happier, getting rid of all the bad things would just make her weaker in the long run.

The final two figures left the flat, the door clicking shut behind them, and Harry locked up before apparating back to Yuuko's shop, just as alone as he had been when he left that morning. Kimihiro only got back right after him, and took great pleasure in removing the squirming pipefox from his shirt while Harry looked on, amused.

Eventually, he tore his eyes away from the other boy and entered the house proper, changing into his yellow slippers as usual. That was when... something happened, though Harry couldn't say what. Well, he _could_, but he wasn't actually sure what happened between initiation and result.

The result, however, was that his slippers were scattered into millions of tiny pieces and he had the sole of one of them – the left, he noted dully – stuck in his mouth. It tasted icky, but it took a moment for his hands to remember how they worked and to pull the piece of shoe from his mouth. He hadn't really noticed anything but the mess, which he spelled away, but someone else had been watching.

"What hell is wrong with you?!" Kimihiro raged. He had this wild sort of look in his eye, and he even looked a bit afraid, though he would never admit to it. "You just ate your slippers! Are you mad?!"

Harry winced slightly and furrowed his brow. "Probably... don't know though," he shrugged after a moment, still holding the only non-vanished piece of footwear, the front half of his right slipper. "Just pretend you didn't see that; I'm going to go buy myself a new pair of slippers."

And he left without another word, thinking. What the hell _was_ wrong with him?

* * *

A honey badger was not a regular denizen of Japan. In fact, it wasn't a regular denizen of most places. They lived in Africa and the southern part of the middle east for the part, because that was where their prey lived. Honey, small crocodiles up to a meter, large snakes – both venomous and constrictors – whatever they wanted really, counted in the category of "prey". They were the most vicious of creatures, known as Killer Badgers in some places.

So, Harry thought with a hint of amusement, it was probably rather surprising to see a honey badger walking down the sidewalk. Loads people had already called animal control, not knowing what he was, but knowing from the way he took down a hawk that thought he looked tasty that he was dangerous. It was probably a good idea that they did, normally, since honey badgers were dangerous to humans and animals alike. Particularly to men (1).

But he had a reason. Sure, people he passed were certain to notice, but Morinozuka Takashi was completely oblivious to the fact that he was being stalked (2) by a potentially rabid beast, or so he let on. Harry had his doubts, but then it was hard to mask the death cries of a hawk. He'd had to avoid eating the damned thing, because his mission was more important.

There were other ways to go about it, but Harry felt the need to accidentally-on-purpose reveal magic to one or more of the Hosts and let them know the entire situation regarding Haruhi. Lucky for them, he wasn't as good at magic as Yuuko, because she simply would have taken the memories from Haruhi; Harry had copied them and then put a potent block on them. So, unlike Yuuko's method, Harry's was easily reversible by someone other than himself... comparatively.

It was halfway down a street in the more suburban area of Tokyo – Takashi was, apparently, walking home today rather than being driven, which Harry _might_ have compelled him to do, but it wasn't anything he would admit to – when the animal control finally appeared. It probably would have been sooner if he hadn't been going at a fair clip of three miles per hour to keep up with Takashi.

Harry didn't much like the idea of being euthanized though, and he kind of... panicked. Not that he was acting on instinct today – the badger was behaving quite nicely after eating his slippers last week (he couldn't find any quite the same shade of yellow and bought a pair of children's ones that had puffy bumblebees on them which he resized upon his return home) – but he did panic. Running forward as the first animal control person drew a bead on him with a tranquilizer gun, Harry found himself hiding behind Takashi without really realizing it.

"Sir, please step away from that animal," there were three men, Harry now saw, one with a tranquilizer gun, one with a net, and the other with a collar strapped to his belt and his hand resting on the butt of a pistol. But Harry couldn't have Takashi leave. First off, Takashi was his cover from fire. Second, if he was euthanized or something, that would pretty much end any open-ended plans he was starting to carry out on Haruhi's behalf.

It was a definite surprise when Takashi _didn't_ move away, instead half turning his upper body. Harry had to tilt his head up a lot to see, but Takashi seemed to be giving him a speculative glance; he must have seen some hint of Harry's desperation though, because quite suddenly Harry found the ground was not beneath his paws as it should have been.

Harry's animagus form had never been held before. People didn't just pick up honey badgers by their midriff and _look_ at them like that. Maybe it was his strange green eyes – no animal had eyes the shade of green Harry had, and he'd never met a human with quite the same shade either – or any other number of things, but Takashi _had_ picked up the potentially-deadly beast and didn't seem to mind. As he was situated in the older teen's arms, Harry couldn't help but think of it as surreal and simply give over. A real honey badger would probably have tried to bite him by now.

"S-sir! Please put that thing down; it might be rabid," the man with a net seemed rather confused and looked to the other two for help. Harry tilted his head at them and stuck his tongue out, though what it might have actually looked like to the trio was debatable. He was _not_ rabid! "We've received a lot of calls about that thing and -"

"I can deal with it," Takashi shrugged. "If something is wrong with it, I'll call." For Harry's first time hearing the college student's voice, he had to admit it was a rather pleasant baritone. Low, but not too low, and smooth rather than gravelly. The fact that he was hearing it with one of his ultra-sharp badger-ears pressed to the man's chest made it sound all the better, really.

"B-but -"

"The Morinozuka family can handle a ratel (3)," and then he turned around and left. The street had been mostly empty but for them, and as Harry found they were only a block from where everything became the Morinozuka Compound. Honey badgers do not get pet – it was kind of obvious given their temperaments – but apparently they still had the same receptors as regular animals, because he wasn't turning away the idle attentions of Takashi's fingers.

The fact that he was being pet was a bit disturbing, but Harry was spoiled and decided that this was just another way that he was to be spoiled.

Takashi eventually carried him to a little garden in the sprawling compound that Harry immediately liked. He thought it was a tea garden judging by the small shrine and what _looked_ like a teahouse at the other end of the path. Most of the early summer flowers were yellow, and there was a beehive at _just_ the right height attached to a tree trunk. Instinct dictated him as soon as he was let down, and he dashed to the beehive, only to find it smelled of death. It had recently been sprayed apparently.

Disappointed, Harry turned around, slowly remembering why he had been carried there, why he had been following Takashi, and why he kept a stash of honey in his room nowadays. Takashi was still looking at him, and Harry recognized a definite hint of curiosity and confusion wafting from the human.

Being able to smell emotions was _still_ weird, no matter what Sirius said.

But he did appreciate being able to hear the low mumble of, "Not a normal ratel," because it gave him an excuse to be indiscreet... sort of.

Only a moment later had Harry seated on the dirt of the garden, giving Takashi a pseudo-sheepish look.

"What gave me away?" There were plenty of things of course, since he had pretty much done the exact opposite of what a _real_ honey badger would do the entire time he was stalking Takashi. There wasn't exactly a shortage of things to choose from.

Despite the many reactions he had seen from people finding out about magic for the first time, somehow, Harry didn't think that Takashi would pick option number 6 on "The List of What to Expect When Telling Muggles About Magic." It was a pretty straightforward list, and while Harry had only met Takashi once before – in which time the college student hadn't actually said anything, he'd expected option 2 – moderate denial, including pinching oneself and asking for definitive proof – or perhaps the first option – temporary stupefaction – but _6_?

Deciding that an unconscious – he _fainted_! - Takashi was probably not something that would be wise to leave around where anyone to find him, Harry cast a simple muggle-repelling ward around the entrances to the garden and waited.

And he waited.

Aaaand he waited.

As an only child, and raised by a witch and two very attentive soulless girls at that, Harry wasn't really all that patient. Hogwarts had worked on that for him some, but five minutes tended to be about his limit when it came to things he believed important – less for trivial things.

Aggravated by the distinct lack-of-cognizance coming from his current companion, Harry pulled his wand from his trousers (though Moody said he would blow off a buttock like that, Harry didn't believe him) and sent an _ennervate_ Takashi's way. The sudden start and near immediate seated posture allowed Harry ample chance to twirl his wand between his fingers and wave.

"Hello! So... I wasn't kidding; what gave away that I wasn't a badger?" Harry rested his head in one hand, his elbow on his knee as he sat with his legs crossed, elementary-kid style. He looked every inch the picture of playful curiosity.

Takashi didn't seem to have bought it. He was still staring at Harry like someone completely off their rocker. The warnings for option 6 had included this of course; following the faint, the muggle in question was likely to have convinced himself that what they had seen was not real and the magician responsible was simply fooling about.

Restraining a pout, Harry waved his wand at the dead beehive and extracted the honey in a nice globe, completely clean of the bee poison and any baby bees that might have been incubating in the comb. He happily conjured a jar and dropped the honey in. Then he dipped in a finger and happily licked it off before offering the jar to Takashi.

Takashi refused, but seemed to have gained some of his bearings with that action. Harry smirked and continued eating the honey. Much better than having to wait until he got home, that was certain. It occurred to him that perhaps he was becoming a bit too much like his form – and his House and lineage at that – but honey was tasty, and he couldn't help it if black and yellow were the best colors ever... yet he was getting off topic.

"Anyway," he started up as though he had never stopped to eat honey, "thank you for giving me such a marvelous excuse to reveal the magical world, Takashi-san. Of course, should the authorities ask I can tell them I owe you a life-debt since I probably would have been put down if you hadn't rescued me back there. Seriously though, what clued you in to my oddness as a badger?"

Another moment of silence as Harry licked at some honey that trailed down his wrist. Finally, Takashi replied to the thrice-asked question. "You were stalking me for half-an-hour. And then you hid from danger instead of attacking. Ratels don't have that much attention except for food, and they don't _hide_."

For some reason, Harry had a feeling that Takashi didn't usually talk that much at once. (4)

"Hm, probably wasn't discreet enough then... ah well," Harry shrugged. "So, magic is real, as are ghosts, unicorns, werewolves, vampires, and those regular malevolent spirits that people ward against. Basically, if muggles – normal people – have written a fantasy book involving it, it probably exists... excepts whangdoodles (5). Those are myth. I am a wizard; my aunt is a witch. Haruhi-san came to my aunt's shop the day before school started, and I blocked her memories for her."

Somehow, Harry wasn't expected to be punched as soon as _that_ particular tidbit was let out, but the unexpected was always happening around him. The honey jar rolled away in the grass, losing half its contents, while Harry wondered why his cheek hurt so much.

"Did I mention that I want to help you guys break the block in the least emotionally-destabilizing way possible?"

Arriving home that night, Kimihiro fussed over his bruised cheek – the boy may not like him, but he was a complete mother hen – while Yuuko sent him a knowing look. But that was fine, because Harry had an ally now.

Maybe even a friend.

**Author's Note: Hi again! Just a few notes about Harry's character – he grew up a semi-spoiled only child. In general (as found by psychologists), only children mature quickly, are thorough, high achievers, and have high expectations of self (The New Birth Order Book by Dr Kevin Leman). So Harry grew up fast (as shown in the prologue), is thorough in his plots (even though he doesn't know the aim of his plot), aims high, and expects himself to be able to do what he sets out to (please note that he is the BWL and had to believe in himself somehow). The spoiled bit is because of how Yuuko treated him growing up – as if he deserved to know what was happening and all that, because of his early maturing and her own character – and this shows in his playful attitude that we've seen when he's comfortable. He's also like the baby of the family though, due to Maru and Moro, thus his playful, showy nature.**

**In other news, I'm guessing I'm not the only one who was having naughty thoughts this chapter? Sorry, didn't even occur to me until I was writing it... and it was too perfect to omit!**

**The next update... I don't know when it will be, as this was the last pre-written chapter. I'm mostly done with Chapter 3, but that won't be posted until it's done, which will likely be more than a week simply because of how chaotic my schedule is turning as of tomorrow (Finals are next month, teachers are handing out projects like popcorn, and my dad's girlfriend is flying across an ocean and a continent from Wales to visit for the next two weeks – therefore, I'm busy). And let's not forget that I also have Imminence and Nan Gatsu to work on.**

**Added some omake to this one – the original scenes that sparked this story, but none of them will be used.**

(1) As I said last chapter, honey badgers have been known to attack human male genitalia.

(2) A shout out to Marauder Heir, who wanted Harry to stalk Takashi (we were talking about what Gaara/Harry would be like and it was noted that if Harry turned stalker-fanboy over Gaara (like Hinata to Naruto) that Gaara would stalk him right back).

(3) Ratel (from Rattle) is another name for honey badgers. Takashi likes animals, so it stands to reason he might know.

(4) However, he does talk that much and more in several chapters of the manga, so this isn't out of character.

(5) Reference to The Last of the Really Great Whangdoodles

_Omake #1_

_Random conversation in my head that originally started this story; background – Haruhi became friends with Watanuki, Himawari, and Doumeki, and Harry likes to irk them. At an archery tournament (like in the actual story). Haruhi has just been beset by the Hosts._

Doumeki: I suggest you let go.

Tamaki: But – my daughter -

Harry: Daughter? Aren't you a bit young to have a sixteen year old daughter? Eh, oh well. I'm sure she doesn't mind us, right Haruhi-chan?

Haruhi: --shrugs-- Better the devil I know than the devil I don't.

Harry: See? --slings arm over her shoulder--

Tamaki: --horrified-- You! You're touching my -

Harry: Oh, you're worried about me hitting on Haruhi? No need. I'm gay, as Watanuki-kun here well knows. --wink--

Watanuki: Gah! Stop flirting with me you pervert!! --flails--

Harry: --slaps had over mouth-- don't listen to him. He's just mad because he looked over my shoulder while I was reading yaoi manga. There was a lot of blood...

Watanuki: Only because I tripped and hit my nose!

Harry: Oh, you had a nose bleed? Something you aren't telling everyone? _I_ was talking about how much my ears bled after you were done yelling. Besides, I have no reason to flirt with you; I've already got the adorable scruffy uke market cornered. It'd be a bit narcissistic to go for you... no, I'm more thinking of a tall dark and handsome with a side of strong-silent type.

Haruhi: You just described Doumeki-kun, didn't you?

Harry: Nah, I think he's got his eye elsewhere. Besides, he's not that much taller than me.

Takashi: --secretly grinning--

_Omake #2_

_Just after this encounter, Harry is leading the Hosts to where he can explain something of what has happened to Haruhi. Another one of the original scenes_

--everyone is leaving... somewhere--

Takashi: --busy staring at Harry's butt--

Hani: --trips Takashi--

Takashi: --doesn't try to stop himself from falling and lands on Harry, gets up quickly as if it were an accident--

Harry: Points for forwardness, but you lost a few in the follow through.

_Omake #3_

_Really just one little moment that inspired how I would get the Hosts involved in the story. Tamaki and the others have just set themselves on Haruhi and, overwhelmed by her instincts telling her things she knows/thinks are untrue, she is rescued by Harry and Watanuki._

Watanuki sneered at the Hosts while Haruhi sat in a daze on the bleachers, her eyes hazy. Harry was tending to her, doing something – Watanuki didn't know what – but for once the wizard seemed almost okay, if only because he was so earnest about helping Haruhi.

"Haruhi, what -" Watanuki cut off the tall blond boy though.

"Shut up. I can see why she wanted to forget you!"


	4. Chapter 3

Warnings: Slash (aka men kissing other men and liking it quite a lot), fangirling, lots of OoC (but in a believable and in-context manner for the most part, so it's not THAT bad), mentioned character death, spoilers for all 7 Harry Potter books, Ouran manga through chapter 65-ish, xxxHolic through at least 150 (if not more), and Tsubasa through probably 210 (since it's so closely tied to Holic), but it's also AU to all series, three-way crossover, maybe more, such as Tsubasa or something, but not on the same scale, minor Ron-bashing, minor Ginny-bashing, very minor Tamaki bashing, minor Megumi bashing (but that's it, honest)

Disclaimers: Harry Potter belongs to JKR and affiliates, xxxHOLiC and Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicles belong to CLAMP and affiliates, and Ouran High School Host Club belongs to Bisuko Hatori and affiliates. I am not an associate of any of these groups, simply a girl beset by rabid, man-eating plot bunnies (even if they _are_ adorable!).

Features: AlternateChildhood!Harry, Determined!Haruhi, Watanuki! (his exclamation point has to be after his name) and others from all three series (perhaps more later on too)

Chapter 3

It was late July, and Harry was gearing up for his big decision. Would he stay in school, make Yuuko happy, and keep an eye on Haruhi? He, or, indeed, the Host Club, could pay off someone else to spy on her, but Harry would rather not do that and instead keep his own eye on the girl. So far he had told three of Haruhi's old friends about magic and brought them in on his plan, taking their input as they knew her far better than he. Kyouya's tips were especially insightful and very useful. Mitsukuni's ideas involved more of a soft rout, but coating Haruhi in pillows and kidnapping her to Ouran wouldn't actually help much. While they were allies, they weren't real friends.

The basic plan was fairly simple; slowly increase Haruhi's exposure to the Hosts, particularly those with whom she didn't have painful memories, but get it done by the end of the year, because it would be easier the sooner it was done. Allow her time to get over the emotional issue that made her underestimate herself, all that good stuff.

Much to Harry's dismay, Kyouya's input began with Harry befriending the girl himself, which lowered the chances of him being able to get away with dropping out anyway, but the entire plan wasn't well thought out in general. It _had_ to be vague; people were always an unknown element, so Harry kept the plan as loose as humanly possible, which was pretty damn vague.

But the whole "plan" thing was surely overrated; after all, _nothing_ could be worth having to sit through a literature lesson, right? He hated his literature class, hated the essays and everything, especially since he had gotten used to using quills at Hogwarts and never actually learned to type. While his classmates might be in awe of how pretty his handwriting was for both English and Japanese, he couldn't stand all the inanities of muggle school. Not that magical school had been any better, but since he was home-schooled as a child, homework always seemed alien to him.

The day was done with soon enough, and since he was thoroughly exhausted after his extra PE lesson and everything else he had to deal with through the course of the day, he completely forgot about one thing and didn't expect another. Well, to be fair he _couldn't_ have expected what he didn't expect, since no dream nor person had told him, but that was far beyond the point.

What he had forgotten was fairly simple; he was supposed to be meeting Kyouya, Takashi, and Mitsukuni at his little apartment for a quick dinner, as well as the remaining three of the original Hosts who were to be told the truth of everything that very evening (the new boys in the club had never met Haruhi and so were not to be told (1)).

That was quickly remedied as Yuuko told him when he arrived at her house that hadn't he said he wouldn't be home until later that evening? And this sparked his memory just fine, so he apparated to an alley near his apartment and let the waiting Hosts in. Takashi and Mitsukuni were not yet present as they had classes for another half hour or so.

It was after he had settled in the Hosts to his now-semi-decorated flat and finished revealing magic to the very receptive and hyperactive trio that the "unexpected" happened. There was a knock on the door. This was, in and of itself, not totally unexpected since he was waiting on the two college students to arrive, though not for a good forty-five minutes yet. Still, he called that the door was open; they had probably just gotten out of class early or something.

He didn't even realize how wrong he was until he had been lifted from his chair and settled in two notably feminine laps.

Slightly confused, he looked up to find Luna and Hermione, the former being his self-proclaimed "fag-hag", had sat quite comfortably in the yellow recliner and didn't seem keen on letting him off their laps. Luna was the usual blonde with wide blue eyes, except that she had a dreamy little smile on her face for reasons unknown since Harry's flat was noticeably lacking in spirits. Hermione's bushy mane hadn't tamed at all in two months, and her eyes took on a mischievous gleam as she surveyed the boys that were seated around the coffee table.

Oh, and the Hosts were staring at the visitors. Can't forget that.

"Hope we aren't intruding," that was Neville's voice. Harry sprang out of the girls' laps, never mind they didn't want to let him up, to get a good look – and grip – at the boy who had over the years become his "brother lost at birth." Neville stood a good head taller than him with dark brown eyes and wavy dirty-blond hair. He didn't look much different from back in May either, except that his hair was a bit shaggier. Though only a day older, once he had grown a spine Neville was a sort of big-brother to Harry, an idea only furthered when he ruffled Harry's messy curls. Neville, Sirius, and Yuuko were the only people afforded that luxury while keeping their hands in tact.

"Not at all, Nev! Merlin, haven't seen you guys since... er, well, two months ago," he smirked, "and I think you put on another inch since then; NEWTs must have done well by you!" He looked to the girls sitting in his seats, both of whom were grinning up at him, completely ignoring the Hosts. "And Hermione, I see your breasts are perky as ever." Only one of the Hosts made any sort of sputtering at this, and Harry realized that he and Neville, what little they had said, was in English. Though the fact that Tamaki was the only one fluent enough in the language to catch the vulgar comment was... amusing.

"Harry, you old charmer, I'd think you were being serious if... well, no, I'd never think you were Sirius; he's prettier than you," Hermione faked a swoon at the thought of the never-convicted convict, right hand on her forehead that Harry snatched up with a snicker to give a kiss instead. Neville whacked him upside the head for "flirting" with his girlfriend, but Harry didn't much mind. He waggled his fingers in a complicated way at the Japanese boys to cast a quick translation charm. Whether or not his friends had applied translation charms to themselves yet was honestly debatable. Sure, Hermione was smart and logical, but they wouldn't have expected Harry's apartment to be full of people who (for the most part) didn't speak English.

"Introductions are in order," he grinned at his friends – he had friends with him again! – and the boys who were still seated. "Hosts, these are my friends from England. Friends from England, this is the Ouran High School Host Club."

"Names?" Kyouya almost twitched as he asked this. Harry tried to be tolerable around him for the past month, but he couldn't _help_ it. He rarely went without his friends for a full two months – when attending Hogwarts it was always _under_ two months – and now he was seeing them again; of course he would be hyperactive.

"It's nice to meet you, Hosts," Luna nodded demurely, as if Harry not giving any names was normal. It wasn't, but Luna treated _everything_ like it was normal. "I'm Friend Number 3; you can call me Luna. Isn't that right Friend Number 1?" She looked at Hermione, her smile still wistful. She was probably noting the distinct lack of ethereal beings in Harry's flat.

"Naturally, you can call me Hermione, but if you call me 'Mione I'll turn you into a small crocodile and feed you to Harry a flambé," the utterly sweet smile belied the vicious words. And hearing Hermione use such a sugary sweet tone… it was almost creepy since Harry knew her to be anything but innocent. Of course, since she had adopted a bit of Harry's crazy over the years, it might be expected. A little.

"I guess that makes me Friend Number 4; Numbers 2 and 2.5 are with Pseudo Family Members 1, 2, and 4 buying snacks and some sort of liquor, and I think they're getting Harry's aunt too," he paused a moment. "Oh, right, you can call me Neville or Nev, whichever strikes your fancy."

Hikaru and Kaoru seemed to catch onto the act that Harry had inadvertently started immediately after Neville's little introduction. "We're Hosts 1 and 2, but call us Hikaru and Kaoru!" They didn't seem phased at speaking English and capitalized on the opportunity to rhyme in unison.

"Hey!" Tamaki was over his "Harry being vulgar" induced flabbergasted-ness and scowled at the twins. "Why am I not Host 1? I'm the King!" He was pouting, but Harry attributed this to the absence of his girlfriend, Kanoya Megumi. It had been decided without anyone's council that getting _her_ involved was not desirable. While Haruhi hadn't seemed to hold a grudge against the other girl, the "ideal" her, there was also a danger of building up a subconscious grudge that would attract some nasty spirits, and Harry wasn't keen on having to protect anyone from vicious ayakashi. His wards weren't good enough for that.

"Because you drove Haruhi away, Tono!" Harry stopped Tamaki from diving into his "emo corner" as it had been referred to by Kyouya a time or two, but just barely. He neither wanted nor needed a corner of his living room to be overgrown with mushrooms or ripped up newspaper for "hamster cage bottom."

"Ootori Kyouya of Ootori Medical Company," Kyouya stood and introduced himself to Harry's friends with a solid handshake to Neville – who wasn't the least bit used to business other than with goblins but did have a firm handshake – and he kissed the back of each girls' hand. Hermione rolled her eyes at the gesture, perhaps thinking it too theatrical for anyone but Harry.

"Right, Harry said in his letter that he wiped the memory of some girl and all her friends are the heirs to hot-shot companies," Hermione waved him off. "Which makes Hosts 1 and 2 the Hitachiin boys, heir to the Hitachiin fashion and Hitachiin flower arranging companies... where are the rest of you I wonder? Harry happened to mention -"

With her mouth obstructed by Harry's hand, Hermione stopped talking, though she did lick his palm to make him let go – he didn't.

"Thanks for that Hermione," he rolled his eyes. "Tamaki is the blond guy... and as for Takashi-kun and Mitsu-chan, they're still in classes and won't be arriving until dinner would be ready. I guess I'll have to increase the size of the meal now our numbers are tripled though." Not to mention the size of his flat since having as many chairs in the living room as he did was already pushing it.

Harry continued playing host for the Hosts for another half hour before the second knock sounded. He was amused to note, as he answered the door, that Sirius, Remus, and Tonks had apparently arrived just before Takashi and Mitsukuni, as the college students were just getting out of their limousine.

"Harry! Good to see you, great to see you," Sirius gestured wildly, as if the bag of liquor in his hand wasn't being flung around. "Cute apartment – I'm guessing Hermione enlarged it to accommodate? Fantastic."

"Sirius," Harry greeted, rolling his eyes. Apparently Sirius was already tipsy. "Get in here before your arrested for drunk and disorderly conduct. Need I repeat what happened _last_ time?" Sirius' grin implied he did. "Hey Tonks, how are things with Charlie? Remus, how are full moon's now that your Minister is an animagus?" He ushered the trio in, listening to Tonks fawn over Charlie Weasley (whom she had been dating since his return to the UK), while Remus replied with a sort of bleary-blissful smile. Considering the Minister of Magic, Kingsley Shacklebolt, was dating Remus and _just so happened_ to be an Alaskan white wolf animagus... "Great; sit down anywhere you lot, set up the munchies if you can, but save the booze for 'til dinner. We don't need any repeats of last time."

A loud clamber of small feet running up the stairs to Harry's flat caught his attention, and he barely had time to brace himself before he was tackled by Mitsukuni. It made for a good opportunity to tag him with a translation charm at least, though Harry's spine didn't like its meeting with the door-jam very much.

"Harry-chan! Are you throwing a party or something? There are a lot of people... and your apartment grew again!" Mitsukuni was ducking his head around Harry's torso to look through the open door, though it wasn't strictly necessary. Harry could already see that Hermione and Kyouya had created a joint effort for the introduction of everyone to everyone else, but it wasn't going well. "Ano... Harry-chan, those boys look a lot like Hika-chan and Kao-chan..."

Taking a peek at the indicated pair, Harry grinned. "They are Hikaru-kun and Kaoru-kun," he could tell the effects of a prank sweet when he saw it. "Fred and George just made it so we can tell the difference." By making their hair grow out, change color, and turn their skin different shades of purple. The fact that Hikaru had recently dyed his hair back to black (Mitsukuni claimed it wasn't the first time), it wasn't strictly necessary. "As to the party... I didn't know until people were showing up."

"Oh, it's one of those parties," Mitsukuni nodded sagely, and Harry just had to wonder what sort of party it was supposed to be. By then Takashi had made his way to the door, and Kyouya managed to introduce them both before Mitsukuni noticed that Remus and Tonks, who were setting up the snack foods, happened to have bought strawberries and a chocolate fondue fountain. Why, precisely, they thought to buy one, especially when only Remus was really accustomed to muggle things... no, scratch that, it was likely because of Remus' familiarity that they bought it. So while Mitsukuni obsessed over the containers of strawberries, Remus was more concerned with fondue.

All Takashi said before entering was, "Interesting." Harry had to agree and sent one last translation charm for the evening.

After closing the door, preventing Sirius from casting spells on his television (it was hard enough to ward the damned thing to be anti-magic without someone actively casting spells on it), and checking on the dinner that had grown from a small affair to enough to feed an army, Harry managed to collapse on a couch between Luna and Tonks.

"Merlin's ingrown toenail! Should I be expecting more, or is this it?" The question was meant to be sardonic, but Tonks averted the conversation she was having with Tamaki to reply.

"Your aunt said she was coming soon, and she would be bringing two more people, along with the black flying rabbit-thing and her pipefox," and then it was back to her conversation. It seemed she was filling in the blanks of Harry's quick rundown on magic, which Tamaki lapped up eagerly.

Two more people... probably meant Kimihiro and Shizuka. Which would mean a lot of shouting when Kimihiro realized just how much alcohol Sirius had bought for the evening.

But Harry wasn't going to complain, because he simply had to get on with life. They were supposed to be figuring out how to deal with Haruhi tonight – the only progress was when Tamaki had insisted that Kanoya be brought into the fold and been shot down on all sides – but apparently he'd chosen a bad night or something considering his family and friends had decided they wanted a drunken little get together.

Of course, the fact that only Yuuko, Sirius, Remus, Tonks, Fred, and George were old enough to drink legally in Japan was completely ignored. Since the drinking age here was 20, none of Harry's younger friends could drink, nor could the Host boys. Not that it really mattered so long as Harry distributed some sobering potions before the Hosts left, but he could already hear Kimihiro shouting about it...

Wait, yes, he really could.

"And isn't he too young to drink?! If we get busted by the cops -"

Harry had already darted out the door and too the balcony where Yuuko, Kimihiro, and Shizuka were passing under it towards the stairs.

"If we get busted by anyone it'll be aurors since this is a _magical_ district," he called down to override the shout. "I thought you'd figure that out when demons and sprites quit popping up. Come on up then; dinner should be ready soon." Harry ducked back in the door, leaving it open now, and returned to the kitchen to deal with what remained of dinner prep. Mugetsu and Mokona kept trying to come in and snitch food often enough that Harry simply set up an exclusion ward to finish his work.

There were, of course, great squeals of joy from Mitsukuni as he was acquainted with Larg. Mitsukuni liked cute things, and the Mokona was certainly that. Harry, naturally, only knew the situation because the joyful squeal was so _loud_.

When everything was ready so he conjured a trolley for the food and wheeled it out to where the munchies had been placed. The only two non-humanoid entities in the apartment attacked the trolley, the little fox frequently attempting to bring snacks to his favorite human.

Simply put, the next half hour was organized chaos and people generally had a lot of fun in his apartment. Not everyone was wild, just everyone aside from Remus, Kyouya, Takashi, and Shizuka.

Yuuko had conjured a lounge for herself and had already brought out some sake as she and Luna spoke about the various spirits each had met. Harry had long since taught Luna the proper names for the spirits – many took exception to being called such ridiculous names as "nargles," "wrackspurts," "heliopaths," and "crumple-horned snorcacks" – though Yuuko seemed to know what she meant on the rare occasion that she called something by the wrong name.

Sirius was showing off his animagus form to the muggles (Mitsukuni was even getting a ride) despite Remus' attempts to make him act his age rather than half of Harry's. Takashi kept a close eye on them, to make sure that Mitsukuni was safe.

Tamaki and the Hitachiin twins were marveling over everything that Fred and George pulled out of their myriad pockets, including wet-start fireworks, canary creams, fake wands, and other such pranking items. Tamaki wasn't a prankster, but he was completely enthralled by the whole "magic" thing.

Neville had apparently found Harry's Wizard Chess Set and was explaining the game to Kyouya, though the differences to the muggle variant were slight.

Tonks, seeing Harry with the food, was yanking Hermione with her to the table. Harry assumed they were engaging in girl talk of some sort and didn't really pay much mind.

He was far more entertained with watching Watanuki try to tell Yuuko off for giving Luna sake. "Try" being the operative word here, as it seemed someone had cast a silencing charm on him while Harry was in the kitchen for the past ten minutes. Doumeki seemed both pleased... and annoyed? Strange. But he seemed to mostly be ignoring the scene and watching Fred and George's display from a distance.

Harry could only sigh at this and broke out the alcohol for everyone's enjoyment. Sirius had bought a lot of it, certainly more than Yuuko drank in even a month, or so it seemed, but Harry was quite content to grab a butterbeer, spike it with a bit of extra whiskey (not firewhiskey; he had learned the hard way that mixing firewhiskey and butterbeer was a _bad_ idea), and hope to Merlin that no one would get into the absinthe.

How Sirius had even found any... well, Harry just had to hope it went untouched. That green drink could do some serious damage.

All those of legal drinking age grabbed liquor without prompting, settling back with a conjured shot-glass or the entire bottle. A few not of legal age – namely Shizuka, Hermione, Neville, and Luna – also picked their poison from the impromptu mini-bar.

Some of them required... prompting. Fred and George ended up challenging their counterparts to a drinking game (something called "Taboo"), and Neville was engaged in a game of drunk-chess with Kyouya. He was losing badly, as Kyouya seemed to be quite good at chess, and Neville's skills degenerated with increased alcohol. Tamaki took only a glass of red wine, but he was entertained and kept quiet.

Surprisingly, Takashi didn't take much prodding. Harry offered and, after mentioning that he had a stock of sobering potions for when everyone was prepared to head out, Takashi gracefully accepted a tumbler of some amber liquid from the black Mokona that had decided to act as bartender.

At some point, however, someone had undone the silencing charm on Kimihiro (or perhaps it had worn off, but everyone in the room was sufficiently powerful, so that was unlikely).

"What do you think you're doing, anyway? Don't you know what this stuff does to your liver?!" Kimihiro squawked indignantly. Yuuko had informed Harry that Kimihiro didn't like for anyone to drink because he was a mother hen. Sure, Harry had been known to stop Yuuko on occasion if she was overdoing it, but Harry was too annoyed to care for logic. Not too drunk – he'd only had a couple of the extra-strength butterbeers (that he could remember) – but being a bit tipsy didn't help the situation.

"Kimihiro, shut up," he pushed the other boy lightly in exasperation. "Everyone is old enough to make their _own_ decisions, thanks, and a sobering potion will fix the damage."

"But -"

Yuuko intervened instead. "Watanuki, you should listen to my nephew."

"He just wants to get drunk like some hooligan!" Watanuki hadn't lost any of his steam it seemed, and Harry rolled his eyes.

"Kimihiro-kun, everyone needs a good drink every once in a while," Harry sent him an aggravated glare that preventing the ayakashi-bait from interjecting at that point. "There are some sorrows that have to be drowned because they refuse to be shot, stabbed, strangled, or forgotten. Now shut up and grab yourself some gin or something before I let Shizuka force-feed you."

Kimihiro didn't seem to know what to say at that point; the moment was broken as a drunken Grim staggered through the room, turning back into Sirius with a hiccup.

"Whoopsy," he had a hard time focusing his eyes, but the dogged grin was present and Sirius flashed it at all who paid him any mind and many who weren't even looking in his general direction. "Mm, smells like sake over here." Which made sense, since he had transformed next to Yuuko's lounge and was now sitting on the floor beside her.

Slowly, his eyes roamed the room until they arrived on Yuuko; well, they landed on her cleavage at any rate. Harry had to turn away as the look became lecherous. He didn't need to watch as his godfather flirted with his mother-figure. He'd seen enough of it every time he and Yuuko were in the same room while Sirius was _sober_, and he didn't want to know how much worse it would be when Sirius had lowered inhibitions... not that he had many to begin with.

After monitoring the party for a while – he was so glad that the carpets were wine-colored to begin with, because it was difficult to get out of the carpet even with magic – Harry ended up sitting on one of the original yellow couches. It was pretty fruitless to attempt to prevent spillage at this point, and it cut down on Harry's own ability to have fun. On the other end of the couch, Mitsukuni dozed quietly.

Across the room, the game of Taboo between two sets of twins had morphed into drunken Pictionary, which Tonks, Remus, and Hermione had all joined. Most of the pictures looked like they had been drawn by a hand-eye coordination challenged two year old one drugs… it wasn't very far off the mark.

Suddenly, a hand fell on Harry's head, and he seized up ever so slightly. Fingers carded through his hair, and even though the alcohol was telling him to just lean back and enjoy the steady ministrations, the badger animagus looked behind him to find the culprit. It was, "Takashi-kun?"

"It's softer than when you're a ratel," Takashi stated. His fingers continued their soothing actions for another minute despite Harry's scrutiny and then he walked off. Harry could only blink for a moment before he caught sight of the shimmering green fairy (2) that was giggling and whispering things in his ear that seemed to make Takashi blush some as he took another sip from his green drink.

Harry grimaced. Muggles couldn't handle absinthe; hell, neither could wizards, but at least wizards could _see_ the fairy when it was whispering dirty things to them. Other spirits and liquors lowered inhibitions, which absinthe certainly did, but the fairy that lived in each bottle also happened to like causing chaos and putting ideas into the heads of whoever drank from it. The more the person responded to what the fairy said, the closer to that person's deepest desires the fairy would get with its "suggestions."

Wizards, at least, knew they were being manipulated. Muggles thought it was just a little voice in their head telling them to do things, their own ideas rather than that of a manipulative fairy.

With a sigh, Harry made a special note to give Takashi a double dose of the sobering potion.

He would need it.

* * *

Harry's birthday party ran on a similar vein. The summer vacation had just started a few days prior, and his friends from Britain had set up a wild party for him, once again in his own flat. He now had the right to drop out of school, but had decided not to.

His grades had been improving lately, enough so that he usually had his test scores in the class' top five in his favored subjects, and when the Get-Haruhi-to-Remember Committee had finally managed to convene without interruption, they had come up with a plan to which Harry's attendance was integral. And, really, it wasn't that bad to have to attend muggle school.

This plan was only solidified when Harry found out that someone had beaten him to the punch on becoming Yuuko's apprentice. Luna, it seemed, had taken her NEWTs the week before everyone came to Japan, and she was now under Yuuko's tutelage. It kind of miffed Harry that this was to be, but hitsuzen was hitsuzen; to call it unfair would be a grave lie, one he could never bring himself to say.

Neville and Hermione had both been hired on by private research companies – Neville for Herbology and Hermione for spell-crafting – back in Britain, and as such they were the first to leave Japan. However, as the brightest witch of their generation had proclaimed, both positions happened to come with research grants that would certainly fund an expedition to other countries. And, as it just so happened, the companies they were hired by had research branches in Japan – one in Nara and the other only a few miles away from Hakone.

Tonks soon followed, because as much as she loved seeing Harry, she was an auror and only had a few weeks of vacation. Well, that and Charlie was waiting back at the Welsh Dragon Reserve for her. Remus had been hired on at a magical primary school somewhere in Manchester, to teach young witches and wizards the very basics of their magical education, and had to prepare his classroom. He left with the same portkey as Tonks.

Sirius, as it just so happened, didn't particularly care to go back to Britain since not only Harry was in Japan, but because Fred and George were setting up a new location of Weasleys Wizard Wheezes. A location that, wouldn't you know it, Sirius would be managing since the twins refused to be separated.

The fact that he seemed to enjoy flirting with Yuuko so much seemed to have "slipped" from his explanation, but Harry wasn't fooled in the least.

Still, now that he was 18 years old, Harry had come to a real turning point, and since his apartment was no longer full of random Brits, he had to move. There was also the fact that, as apprentice, Luna was to have his old room (Yuuko was going to help him enchant new butterfly-patterned bedding at least), so he really did have to move out.

Which was why Kimihiro was currently glaring at him. They didn't get along; in Harry's case because Watanuki was a wet blanket, and in Watanuki's case because Harry was related to Yuuko. The elder of the two was certain that they would get over their differences eventually, but the current task wasn't helping.

"I'm not helping you move," Kimihiro stated calmly. Was that odd? He always seemed to freak out where Harry was concerned. "I have to help at Yuuko's shop. And can't you just use your magic to shrink it? Or get that girl to help you move things? Or that Sirius guy? She's your friend and he's your godfather, so why are you asking me?"

"Because I went to Sapporo yesterday to pay for one day's worth of your current debt reduction rate, so you owe me," Harry shrugged. For him, this was the way the world worked. It had always worked on a system of checks and balances, equalities, tit for tat. Many muggleborns from Hogwarts had considered his fatalist mentality unhealthy, and all the ideals Yuuko had taught him to be as non-altruistic as they could imagine.

Kimihiro had picked up the whole hitsuzen spiel from Yuuko, even seemed to understand the system upon which the universe was based to some extent, but he was still from a world where fate was just a term used in bad pick-up lines.

The boy's wary glance had Harry exasperated. They ended up going to Yuuko to _prove_ that Harry had paid for his aid for the day – by picking up beer for the Witch. It was technically illegal until Harry was twenty years old, but showing he was on an errand for _her_ had made the ID checker turn a blind eye.

"I still don't see why you don't get that girl to help you instead," Kimihiro was, at this point, grumbling in the doorway as he waited for Harry to finish packing everything into regular-sized moving boxes. "Wait – you didn't answer any of my questions!" He glared, but Harry shrugged it off.

"Sirius has to finish setting up the new shop, and Luna is getting acquainted with the neighborhood," which was true. She was just getting more acquainted with Haruhi, who had decided she liked the spacey girl when she had come by after school that week because Yuuko wanted to see him.

The fact that it fit perfectly well into the schedule and helped Harry to get just a little closer to the girl he was trying to help was just a side-point, really.

"Since she's going to be living here for the foreseeable future," also true since several of Harry's dreams for the next ten years had included seeing Luna still in Japan surprisingly enough, "she will have to know her way around. And she'll be starting at school with us in a couple days, so I think it's good that she's making friends with Haruhi-san. She'll need a friend in her year since I'm sure I can be a bit much even for _her_."

Harry knew that Hogwarts students were going to be debating which of them was crazier for a while.

Which led to Harry thinking about the last time he'd had one of his "fits", which had been over a month ago. That seemed rather ominous to him, since they had certainly been more frequent even since he absorbed the Hufflepuff's Cup horcrux, never mind eating Nagini.

"And?" Kimihiro's voice butted in.

"And what?" Harry shot back. He closed up the last box, directing the roll of duct tape that had been floating near his elbow to seal it.

"Why do you need help to move when you can use magic to shrink it?" Kimihiro was still calm, though he was twitching slightly as though restraining himself from trying to hit Harry as he often did Shizuka.

"Kimihiro, do you have any idea what would happen if I used a shrinking spell to shrink a non-magical owl cage with the owl – which, by the way, is a magical creature – still inside?" Harry sent the other boy a "duh" look. "The same as what would happen if I shrank my stuff. A lot of it had to be shipped back from Britain in April, because if I had put it in my trunk, magically fortified though it might be, the damned thing would have _exploded_ due to the nature of the objects within." He had learned that lesson the hard way by having The Marauder's Map in his trunk after third year and couldn't shrink it because it was too magical.

He shuddered at the thought of what would happen with the stuff he had _now_.

"Oh..." Kimihiro was now eyeing the boxes as if they would explode anyway.

"Yes, _oh_," Harry rolled his eyes. He stood finally from his crouched position, pulling the box with him. The duct tape was still flitting about and he had to grab it to make it stop (magic could be so stubborn sometimes!). Kimihiro seemed to take the hint and picked up a box that was stacked in the corner and followed Harry out of the house.

Since it was still early August, the summer sun was hot as it beat down from the sky. It was entirely cloudless, the sky an expanse of pure blue... and Harry was already sweating only a few minutes after leaving the house. The magical district that Harry's apartment was in was only ten blocks away, but it felt entirely too far in this heat.

He made a note to apply cooling charms when they were on their way back.

After three trips, Harry's things had been mostly transported, and he was getting a bit stiff in the shoulders. Kimihiro was grumbling – what about, Harry could not say as he quit listening when Kimihiro started cursing Yuuko – but that was easily ignored in favor of dodging someone who had quite spontaneously appeared from around a fence. Doumeki Shizuka gave Harry a "look" that Harry might have been irked at if he really paid any attention to Kimihiro's protector.

"What are _you_ doing here?" Kimihiro glared and grumbled. Sometimes Harry found the dynamic between the two hilarious – the sheer quantity of sexual tension was amusing, combined with Watanuki's blatant denial of anything Shizuka-related and Shizuka's own apathy for the situation it was basically a sitcom – but other times it was just aggravating.

Luckily, this was not one of those times.

"Helping," replied Shizuka to Kimihiro's question. He took one of the two boxes that Kimihiro was carrying seemed to just tag along as though it was nothing. After a moment he tagged on a derisive, "Idiot," which set Watanuki ranting.

Harry contemplated for a few moments what he would do in exchange for Shizuka's help before deciding that he would get something out of season for Kimihiro to put in his lunch. Merlin only knew how often Kimihiro complained about having to find fresh strawberries in winter or similar conundrums.

Over the course of another half hour, all of Harry's worldly possessions were transported to his flat – the otherworldly ones were already there – and he found things were going smoothly. He invited both of his helpers to join him for dinner, but they both declined. Kimihiro did so on the grounds that he disliked Harry; he didn't know what Shizuka refused, but assumed it was because Kimihiro did.

"Thank you both for your help," Harry grinned at them both. And he really was grateful; he had a lot of stuff that had to be moved after all. He bowed to them both and then –

He was on the floor, perhaps five feet away from where he was standing before. His head was pounding, and things weren't quite the right color. Kimihiro and Shizuka hovered over him, both looking surprised and not a little worried.

"Did anyone get the number on the lorry?" Harry mumbled. He brought his hand to rub his eyes, but it got lost on the way and trembled. "'Cause I feel like I was run down by about three, but I could be mistaken."

"You had a fit," Kimihiro seemed to stumble over himself. "You just fainted and flailed a bit. I think… you should probably go to a doctor or something."

That wasn't Harry's usual sort of fit though. He thanked the pair again and ushered them out before apparating to the nearest Wizarding hospital. The news was unfortunate, but given what he had been told by Kimihiro, it wasn't altogether unexpected.

He'd had a seizure, a bad one, and the healer suspected it wouldn't be the last. Harry left the establishment with a prescription potion in his pocket, and deep thoughts swirling in his head.

**Author's Note: Lucky chapter three! Yeah, mostly a lot of people getting drunk and acting stupid, though I really liked one of the lines in there, the one about sorrows (I wrote it in an English essay and HAD to put it in something). And now Harry's having seizures :( sad! (And yes, I did research seizures a little, so the stuff about them should be mostly accurate as I'm writing…)**

**Okay, so this is seriously the last of the prewritten stuff. I had this chapter mostly written before I even started posting the story, and I haven't even started on chapter 4 yet. From now on, you guys actually have to wait more than a week for the next chapter. I probably picked a bad time to start posting – Finals are next month (my math one is in two weeks), my dad's girlfriend is visiting and I'll be hanging out with her a lot, and May is a really busy month in general – but it's too late to remedy that now.**

**Hope you lot liked the chapter :D**

(1) Although Satoshi and Yasuchika were at the archery tournament, they were going to support a friend; they are not in the Host Cub, and since they were the only middle school students (now high school first years) Haruhi met, no others would know her (maybe of her, but they wouldn't have met).

(2) Absinthe is a spirit (alcohol, but not liquor) that is green and highly popular in the early 1900s (and other times I'm sure) that was outlawed in many places. It is referred to by some as "the Green Fairy" (those who have seen the film Moulin Rouge should understand). In this story, I'm just... taking that a bit further.


	5. Interlude 1

Interlude 1

**In this story, interludes will deal with what is going on that Harry is not seeing – so basically any other perspective – or things that aren't really important to his plot that I write for kicks. Not omake, as they are part of the story, but not the story itself either. You may either ignore them if you only want Harry's storyline, or you can read them. Your choice. They'll appear every two or three chapters... probably.**

Watanuki had grown used to Harry's presence, unfortunately. The other boy, older than him by more than half a year, somehow fit into Yuuko's house, though considering Yuuko raised him it wasn't that odd. He held the same capability as Yuuko – and, indeed, Watanuki himself – to change his personality and outlook at the drop of a hat, going from benevolent crazy to seemingly normal, from pervert to melancholy...

Well, he fit in, and Watanuki would leave it at that.

To be fair, he was a lot more reliable and perhaps even likable than one would expect. Harry could cook and clean – with and without magic – and wasn't afraid to steal Yuuko's sake when she was overdoing it, but only if she seemed to literally be about to drown in liquor. If it weren't for the fact that he was obviously deranged, Watanuki could say Harry wasn't a bad guy.

But when he was doing _this_... well, sometimes Harry was so bad that Watanuki wondered if he wasn't Yuuko's _son_.

"I'm just saying you two would be a cute couple," Harry shrugged as if nothing was wrong with his insinuation that Watanuki and Doumeki should _get together_ when Watanuki was _obviously_ in love with Himawari.

He pointed that out in the most polite manner possible – dogs three kilometers away were cowering at the volume – but Harry didn't seem at all effected by his ranting. That was another thing that annoyed Watanuki; much like that bastard Doumeki, Harry was seemingly _immune_ to his rants.

"And why the hell aren't _you_ protesting, huh?!" Watanuki snapped at his stoic rival.

"You're protesting enough for both of us," Doumeki shrugged. Again, Watanuki protested loudly saying that if Doumeki disagreed shouldn't _he_ be saying something too? But Doumeki didn't even respond to that one, and Watanuki was left fuming.

"Hm, I think someone agrees with me!" Harry chirped and actually started to skip ahead of them. The worst part was that Doumeki _still_ wasn't denying anything and Watanuki could only shout at his stupid perverted year mate.

On the bright side, he was pretty sure Doumeki just wasn't saying anything because he felt there was no need to. After all, Watanuki knew that his rival was straight, or else they wouldn't be rivals to begin with.

Now if only he convince that damned Ichihara of that, then he wouldn't have to worry about such taunts anymore.

* * *

Haruhi couldn't help but be confused by a lot of things lately. Not in school of course – she hadn't been first in her year at Ouran because rich people were stupid – but more mundane things. Particularly why she had quit going to the school she had strived so hard to enter. That whole year seemed to have gone by in a blur, and she couldn't recall why she left.

Her exam results had been one hundred and three percent, she was well-liked, more popular than she had been in middle school, and she _knew_ she had been happy there. It was her dream come true after all.

Mechanically, she chatted with her girlfriends about the archery event, not really paying attention. They had insisted on being early to get good seats, and while she knew that archery was popular, she had never really thought much of it. Karate and kendo had always seemed more impressive. Or was that just something that popped out to her in the past year? Again, she couldn't pinpoint the why of it, just that karate and kendo seemed somehow more elegant, exacting, and... but what was she thinking of anyway?

Watanuki (who insisted on being addressed by his family name) was there with Himawari, both to watch Doumeki in the tournament. Many of Haruhi's friends were there to watch Doumeki as well, but Haruhi had assented because of the notice that this competition would include her old school, and she wondered if she knew anyone who did archery. It wasn't likely, but certainly possible.

It was pretty obvious when the Ouran students started arriving. They were all brought in by fancy cars, limousines, Rolls Royces, a Porsche or two. Most were wearing their school uniforms – internally she knew it was because they _didn't_ want to show of their wealth, despite the fact that she knew how expensive the suits were having masqueraded as a boy at Ouran and for some reason she wanted to mutter "rich bastards" – and stood out quite a lot, though a few wore casual clothes.

No one really caught her eye, and Haruhi decided that the only people present whom she knew were casual acquaintances, girls and boys who had been in her class at best, or she had seen them in the halls at some point. No one that really rang any bells.

Except that someone... well, she only saw him for a second before the tall boy in Ouran uniform was hugging her tightly exclaiming over her cute outfit, and asking why she left Ouran and half a dozen other questions that all went over her head for two reasons that she found rather important.

The first was "who is this person?"

The second was "why is this familiar?"

No answer came before her escape, and at that point the incident slipped out of her mind. Rich people were weird.

* * *

Takashi had only just arrived when Haruhi was running away. He knew she'd been hurt by Tamaki falling in love with Kanoya Megumi, everyone but Tamaki himself had, but finding out when he and Mitsukuni popped in to the Host Club the first day school came back and finding that Haruhi _wasn't there_... well, that had been a surprise.

She had said she needed some time to herself over Spring vacation, and they believed her. So the Hosts had butted out for three weeks and when school came back into session, she wasn't there. Kyouya was already trying to find her, but after two months they couldn't find _anything_, not through detectives or the gay bar that her father worked at – correction: _had_ worked at – or anywhere.

Takashi hadn't realized entirely how worried he was until he saw Haruhi laughing with a group of girls and scanning the crowds, her eyes completely jumping over the Host Club as if they didn't bring the slightest bit of recognition. A knot of tension that he hadn't realized was there had released in his shoulders at the sight of his friend so obviously happy, only to come back double force when her gaze didn't even _pause_ on the Host Club.

Towards the end of the archery meet – though, Takashi noted, none of his friends (or Megumi) were paying any attention to Saito Kiyoshi, the only freshman member of the Host Club – they managed to start making their way over to Haruhi... and they were stopped by the same person who had given Haruhi opportunity to escape. He was a slight boy, a bit on the short side, but not exactly young. He was in his late teen years definitely. Messy black hair fell into his eyes, the strangest shade of green, and silver oval-frame glasses didn't glare in the sun like Kyouya's drew even more attention to the intense hue...

And he was stopping them from going to Haruhi.

But he was gone thirty seconds later, and Takashi had the strange impulse to do what the note said and go to the requested meeting point. It was almost unnatural.

When they were ushered into the small apartment – completely vacant of any personal touches, like a living room from a magazine – Takashi was surprised at how large it seemed. The space outside didn't indicate anything more than Haruhi's apartment had been, and yet this was a relatively spacious area. A bit cramped to the rich sensibilities of the Hosts, but Takashi appreciated the volume compared to expectations.

And then the boy had opened his mouth and expounded on Haruhi's selective amnesia. Takashi could read between the lines well enough to know that despite Harry's warning, he did want them to help Haruhi... but he was likely as clueless as they were. After all, how could a boy a year younger than him have any great knowledge on this?

That that was niggling in the back of Takashi's mind after they left and for the time between that instance and when he found out about magic.

Of course, _that_ had started simply. Well, not so much simply as... strangely? Yes, that seemed a better adverb. He had been walking home – an odd event, true, but there wasn't a huge distance between Tokyo University and the Morinozuka compound, especially after he had passed half the distance by bullet train. It was three minutes out from the train station that odd things started happening.

People were looking at him, past him, and then immediately making cell phone calls. Some were taking pictures with their phones. Takashi knew that he was picture-worthy – it was pretty much a requirement of joining the Host Club after all – but this was getting ridiculous.

Then he heard the sound of a hawk diving, the loud "TSEEER!" that accompanied its attempt to kill something, and then something more akin to a _squawk_ from what was undoubtedly the same creature. Takashi looked back and could only blink at the creature responsible. It took a moment for him to recall what exactly the black quadruped was. A ratel, or honey badger. They lived in Africa, ate pretty much everything – up to and including crocodiles – and were known for attacking men where the sun doesn't shine.

And it was... stalking him. Which was just a _little_ bit weird, considering it shouldn't have much of an attention span. Nor should it be in Japan to begin with, but that was just semantics.

Takashi noted that the badger went about its appointed task of stalking him without pause. It also didn't attack anything other than the hawk, which it left half-dead in the middle of the sidewalk instead of eating.

Curious.

And gross. But still curious.

Takashi continued walking home, silently wondering what the hell was going on.

**Author's Note: I actually meant to have this interlude out before the last chapter, but I just found it... and I'm going to write another interlude after I post chapter 4, so I decided not to add stuff from Chapter 3 into this one. (It'll mostly be things involving the wizards)**

**Um... yeah. So you see why I didn't bother putting these into the main part of the story?**

**I should be updating within the week. Depending on how social my first week off of school is, and how much else I'm writing. (I kind of have nothing to do...)**


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